The Prophecy of Power
by Variok
Summary: Gregor is called back to the Underland when a mysterious rat tries to destroy Regalia, and he has help from an unknown race. Will Gregor be able to save the Underland? Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my plot and my characters. It's Susanne Collins'.
1. Mail

I do not own Underland Chronicles (unfortunately), but I do own the plot and whatever characters I decide to make up and stick in here.

Chapter One

Gregor stared at the board where his teacher was busy scribbling notes and attempted to make his face display an even somewhat interested expression. Gregor was not interested, and the way he saw it, he never would be. There was too much in his mind already without his teachers making fruitless efforts to fill him with knowledge that he would need for a future Gregor could not make out. He couldn't see a normal life ahead of him anymore, not after falling deep into the Earth, into a place known as the Underland.

He'd fallen for the first time roughly a year and a half ago, and at first the place had seemed a waking nightmare with its array of enormous creatures such as rats, bats, and cockroaches. He had been the unsuspecting target of five merciless prophecies that had caused him to lose friends and... Ares. Over time, however, Gregor grew to love the Underland, its people, and its queen. Luxa. Just the name alone sent a wave of agony through his heart. He would never see her again. Thoughts of Luxa and his friends in the Underland occupied his thoughts during every moment he could spare during the day, and at home he was lethargic; he did his homework then lay on his small bed remembering the amazing world buried deep beneath New York City. Now was no different.

"Gregor!" The sharp voice of his instructor cut through his daydreams and brought him crashing back in to the incredibly boring world of public education. "Umm, yeah?" Gregor asked, attempting to discern what exactly he was supposed to do. He had no idea if he was supposed to answer some type of question or if the teacher had simply noticed he wasn't really paying any attention at all. The teacher tapped an equation written on the board and looked at him expectantly. Great. "Oh geez" thought Gregor apprehensively. Math was his worst subject. He secretly wished that his little sister, Lizzie, was here to solve the daunting algebraic problem before him.

Lizzie was amazing at math, much better at it than anyone else in Gregory's family. Better than anyone he knew, really, and she was only seven. Lizzie could answer what was probably a very easy question to her on the board, and Gregor merely stared at it as if it were some type of ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. He quickly did some mental math that he hoped was somewhere within one hundred thousand of the correct outcome and dumbly answered "Twelve?"

"No. Who else wants to try?"

Gregor placed his head back on to the writing-covered desk and allowed his thoughts to shift back in to the sunless world far beneath his feet. He let his mind wander from how Howard was doing to what languages Hazard had mastered and, finally, to his feelings for Luxa. Luxa was amazing: she was beautiful, intelligent, and a strong ruler. "And," thought Gregor with a slight smile, "the most stubborn person I will probably ever meet." He sighed miserably; he wanted nothing more to return to the Underland, to talk to all of his friends, to see Luxa's amethyst eyes and her smiling face. "I'd be happy even to see Ripred, and that's saying something." Running a hand through his muddy brown locks, Gregor checked to see how long was left until he finally got to leave class. "Five minutes left. I don't know what I'm looking forward to, anyway." He thought, knowing there really wasn't anything for him to look forward to. It sounded odd, but it was true. Gregor had not been truly happy for five months; he had been able to muster only one or two genuine smiles.

Everything else had been a charade for the benefit of his mom, so that she would think that maybe, just maybe, he could return to a normal childhood. But, of course, he couldn't. Gregor could not wear anything that might reveal the silvery scars that clung to his arms and legs, he couldn't dress out in gym class with the other kids for the same reason, he could barely talk to people because he constantly zoned out of reality and in his mind wandered through the torch-lit caverns of the Underland. How was that normal?

Not only that, but Gregor couldn't even manage to _feel_ like a normal kid. He had killed hundreds of creatures, rats or otherwise. He didn't care that they were rats, they were still living, sentient beings with families and friends…Gregor quickly cut himself off of that stream of thought; it would not lead anywhere he wanted to go. With another heavy sigh, he waited out the remaining minute until the bell rang and children stampeded out the door, reveling in their freedom.

Gregor slowly stood up and followed the bustling crowd of teenagers out the door, waiting patiently for them to squeeze through the narrow exit. As he was about to leave, a hand was laid on his shoulder, detaining him. He turned and looked in to the worried eyes of his friend Angelina. She had been curious about his whereabouts during his long absences from school due to "illness", and Gregor was pretty sure she didn't entirely believe the stories. Didn't believe them at all, probably. "Are you okay, Gregor?" she asked for probably the one hundredth time that week. "Yeah, I'm fine." He muttered, pulling away from her hand to make the seemingly endless journey home.

Gregor moved slowly down the crowded streets of New York. He made a right, angling towards Central Park. He took this way home often, nowadays. He did not push the rock aside; nor did he leave any notes for the Underlanders to find. He just sat there for a minute, remembering the last moments he had shared with Luxa there as she kissed him goodbye and looked at the stars shining overhead; their soft lights reflected on her beautiful and infinitely sad violet eyes as she watched the warrior leave her, the two destined never to see each other again.

Gregor walked in to ambient expanse that was Central Park, still reflecting on those last moments shared between himself and Luxa. "I would do anything to see her again, but my mom would never let me go back down there. Not in a million years." Gregor had decided some time back. He knew how much she had opposed him even returning a second time; she would never let him back. Especially if she ever learned about a certain line in the "Prophecy of Time"

"_When the warrior has been killed, when the monster's blood is spilled"_

Gregor hadn't died, of course, but the prospect would still frighten her. "I almost wish there _was_ another prophecy, just so I could go down and see everyone again one last time." Gregor thought wistfully. "If only my mom would just let me visit them once in a while!" Surrendering himself to unmitigated sorrow, he heaved himself down in a distressed clump by the rock that hid one of the gateways in to the Underland. Gregor had a great desire to hang the rules, forget the consequences, and jump down in to the tunnel.

He couldn't, just due to his family, because if he did his mom would completely freak out. She would start crying uncontrollably at first, then become angrier than the Bane had been once he'd lost his tail. "And this time," Gregor thought with a sad smile, "I won't be able to whack her with a sword and solve the problem." Those words brought back a flood of memories; memories of Ares. Gregor crammed his hands over his ears in an attempt to stifle the flow of remembrance; he was unsuccessful. Tears formed in his eyes and he thought of his lost bond, and he began to cry softly.

Gregor figured it was about thirty minutes before he had calmed down enough to go home, thoughts of Ares still lingering in his mind and threatening him with another loss of control. His limbs felt heavy and he dragged himself to his small apartment at no quicker than a snail's pace. Gregor finally reached the run-down building and entered the lobby. Glancing at the elevator and seeing that, as usual, it was out of order, he began ascending the long pathway of stairs that led up to his apartment.

Gregor reached his floor and gratefully stopped climbing; his wounds from the Bane's massive claws had mostly healed but sometimes he ached where the strong muscles were torn asunder. Even with this pain in his chest, the true suffering lay in his shattered heart, the pain it caused sometimes almost crippling. It was a scar that Gregor knew would never diminish, not as long as he was in the Overland.

As Gregor reached his apartment door, he mentally braced himself. His mom was probably worried and he expected her to assault him with a flurry of questions, not relenting until she was one hundred percent sure he did so much as set a foot in the Underland. He pushed the door open, waiting for his mother to unleash the inevitable maelstrom. As soon as her despairing eyes caught sight of him, she leapt from her perch at the kitchen table and made a beeline to him, circling her arms around him in a relieved embrace. That was when the questions started: "Where have you been? What were you doing? You didn't go down to that _place_ did you? You know you are never allowed to go down there again! Ever!" her voice rose to a shrill yell as she reached the end of her panicked interrogation.

"It's okay, mom. I was just hanging out with Larry and Angelina for a little while after school. I was gonna call you, but I guess I forgot my cell phone." Gregor hated lying to her, but he knew she would really get upset if she knew he had been at Central Park, as he was expressly forbidden to be there. He saw her tight face relax a little, and she gave him a small smile saying "Well, I'm certainly glad that you are back on your way to having friends again." Gregor wasn't really on his way back anywhere in his mind.

Boots ran in to the living room as fast as her toddler legs would carry her. "Gregor! You home!" she piped excitedly. "Yeah, I am little girl. How are you?" he asked blowing a raspberry in her stomach and forcing his sad heart to make a smile. She giggled, "Me good!" came the happy response. Gregor set her down, and she immediately ran over and started playing with a toy bat. A wave of pain swept through him and he resisted the flow of memories he knew would cause him to break down.

Lizzie made her way over to him, eyes wide. "Hey Liz, how's it going?" asked Gregor with more false cheer. Lizzie examined him for a moment before asking, very quietly, "Where were you really?" "I should have known I couldn't hide anything from her." Gregor thought with a sigh. "I was in Central Park." He whispered tersely, hoping she wouldn't keep asking more questions.

"Did you go down?" Lizzie asked him.

There was a pause while Gregor wondered if she was going to say anything else.

"I miss Ripred. I want to go back."

"Me too, Liz."

Gregor sighed, the fact that Gregor's parents had decided to remain in New York didn't matter to him. Boots and Lizzie had both begged to stay, but Gregor knew that either way his mom would never let him back. He went to his room and sat on his bed. For the next hour and a half until dinner, Gregor stared at his tear-stained picture of Luxa. His thoughts were haunted by the painful memories of their time together.

He was finally interrupted from his reverie by Lizzie, who quietly told him that it was time to eat. Sighing sorrowfully, he replaced the picture in his pocket after Lizzie had left and hoped that she didn't see it. He walked in to the kitchen and sat at the table beside Lizzie and Boots. A knock resounded from the front door and an always cheerful Mrs. Cormaci strolled in. "Hello, everyone." She said. Glancing at Gregor she proceeded to ask "How are you all feeling?" Everyone answered politely, except Gregor who stared as his plate and mumbled an unintelligible answer. She gave him a funny look but proceeded to help get everything ready and serve everyone.

The food was wonderful, and the adults all talked excessively. Boots talked a lot, too, not forgetting to greet a roach who crawled by her seat. Gregor closed his eyes as his mom swatted the thing, he could not watch it after Tick had given her life for Boots. He and Lizzie were silent, only responding to questions or remarks directed at them specifically. As soon as he was able, Gregor excused himself and returned to his room where he remained the rest of the night.

As soon as everyone had gone to bed, Gregor's dad walked quietly in to his room. "Are you awake?" he asked softly. "Yeah." Gregor responded, not bothering to move. "What's up?" His dad hesitated a moment, then responded in a voice so quiet that Gregor could barely hear it. He was certain of the words, however. His dad had said possibly the greatest, most amazing, most unexpected, and most welcome words Gregor had heard in the past five months:

"You got a letter."


	2. Return

Thanks to everyone who read / reviewed. I know the plot is semi-cliché-ish, but it's the first fanfic so I'm gonna get the basics down before I move on to fancy innovative and probably (Since I don't have any practice) failtastic stuff. That being said…

I do not own the Underland Chronicles. If I did, you wouldn't be reading this disclaimer. In fact, I wouldn't be writing this fanfic. Cuz it wouldn't be a fanfic. Moving on...

Chapter Two

Gregor walked in to the kitchen and greeted his mom, as well as Lizzie and Boots, with one of his rare non-artificial smiles. He offered to help prepare breakfast and proceeded to do so happily; he barely concentrated on the tasks while thoughts of the Underland raced through his mind at such tremendous speed he could barely comprehend them himself.

"What puts you in such a good mood this morning?" asked Grace curiously, yet suspiciously.

Gregor hadn't even rolled out of bed in time for breakfast in months; he was always shackled to his room in the mornings until someone severed him from the memories that tormented his waking thoughts.

"Nothing. Just feeling pretty good, I guess." Gregor responded dismissively, hoping to change the subject. Gregor's father had decided that they would avoid mentioning the note until dinner that night in order to have time to prepare for his mother's reaction. Gregor had read and re-read the scroll's elegant print so many times as he lay awake the previous night that he had committed it to memory.

_Gregor_

_The Underland has been doing well in the time since your departure; however, we have recently discovered something to be amiss. A most vague and probably dire prophecy has been uncovered under a small section of rock which we have found can be removed from its original placing in the Prophecy Room. Upon this rock was the "Prophecy of Time", and underneath it, the "Prophecy of Power". If you do not wish to come, I understand completely. This especially after your experience concerning the "Prophecy of Time". However, I would be most glad if you would join us and I'm sure Luxa, Hazard, and Howard would be as well. Only myself, Ripred, and Nerissa know of its discovery so far. You would do best to bring Boots; we may have need of her._

_Fly you high,_

_Vikus_

Gregor had been so excited after receiving the text that he was unable to sleep for the entire night afterwards. If not for this excitement, he was sure he'd be utterly exhausted. "It's too bad there's another prophecy that will probably drag me off to kill something again. But," he imagined eagerly, "I'll get to see Luxa and Howard and everyone else again! I hope they are all okay." "Especially since Vikus had that stroke." he added with a tint of worry.

His thoughts continued to revolve around the magnificent stone city of Regalia and the inky caverns of the Underland until Boots high-pitched squeal of delight brought his attention to the living room couch, by which she was spinning in circles chanting fragments of the repeating stanza held within the "Prophecy of Blood". Grace's eyes became sorrowful; but she recovered quickly and distracted Boots by announcing that breakfast was ready.

Rushing over to the table, Boots happily consumed her bacon and eggs, though Gregor thought her clothes got a bigger portion of the meal than her stomach. Her greasy shirt reminded him of the pudding-stained garments she had worn during their first descent in to the Underland. He continued to daydream about the pale and violet-eyed denizens of the hidden world beneath New York until Lizzie shook him, announcing that it was time for school. "All right, Liz." Sighed Gregor as he walked in to the living room and hefted his backpack, the two proceeded out the door to what Gregor knew would be one of the longest school days of his twelve year old life.

It took an enormous amount of willpower for Gregor to focus on anything at happened that day. During lunch, he had to ask Larry and Angelina to repeat their every question and often blanked out by the time they finished it again. The only thing that kept his excitement in check was the thought that his mom might deny him access to the Underland. Gregor knew, though, that if Ripred was one of the ones who knew about the prophecy that he wouldn't be letting the warrior stay at home. The bell dismissing school had never been so welcome.

Gregor rushed through his homework and waited out the tedious expanse until his parents announced that dinner would be ready soon. All day at school he'd prepared some arguments in an attempt to allow him return to the shadowed world hidden beneath his feet. Entering the kitchen, Gregor glanced at his father to find out if he was ready. His dad shook his head and settled his still too-thin form in to one of the chairs arranged around the table.

Attempting to wait patiently, though he knew it was futile, Gregor waited for everyone to sit at the table and arrange themselves. He saw Grace take her seat, and watched his dad; waiting for him to light the fuse and ignite the explosive that was Grace's hatred for the Underlanders and everything that had to do with them. At last, he cleared his throat.

"Grace, Gregor and I have something to tell you." He began cautiously, waiting for her reaction. She froze in place; her hand went limp and dropped the fork on to the glass plate with a clatter.

"What?" she whispered, barely audible to the rest of the family. "When? When did you hear from them? What do they want?" Grace's voice was quiet, her eyes filled with a combination of sadness and anger. Gregor scanned the table, looking at the rest of the family: Gregor's dad, cautious; Lizzie, excited; Boots, too young to understand, but he was sure she'd be asking for her crawler friend Temp as soon as she heard what would ensue.

"Here we go…" Gregor thought, taking a deep breath. He felt like he was on a high dive at the pool, preparing to jump off and meet the freezing water that waited below. The table was silent for a minute as Grace considered the implications of her husband's statement.

"Why do they want my baby back… back in that _place?_" she hissed.

"They discovered a new prophecy; it sounds like they need my help. Please, mom! I really want to see all of my friends and Boots missed Temp and Lizzie really wants to see Ripred! All three of us want to go back down, and it's not like we're normal here or anything! Boots goes around talking to roaches and I can't do anything in public because of my scars! The humans and rats are at peace anyway! Please, mom!" Gregor blurted out, but immediately regretted it; his statements were the last straw that broke whatever thin shell separated his mom from a complete and total panic.

"No! No! Never again! You'll never go back down to the Underland; I don't care if they all die! They can all get that stupid plague, for all I care!" The rant continued for several minutes, all the while Boots chanting "We go see Temp?" and fueling Gregor's determination to return.

Gregor's dad sat calmly through the entire stream of frustration emitted by his wife, and as it died down to a sputtering denial he walked over and hugged her. He spoke quietly and calmly saying, "Grace, I know you don't want the kids to go back. Part of me doesn't want them to, either. But, like you, I want what's best for them. They aren't happy here, Grace, and I think that the only way they will be is if they are at least allowed to visit their friends in the Underland."

Silence stretched for a few minutes, and Gregor hoped against hope that his mom would relent.

"No… No…" his mom moaned, sobbing.

"What if Ripred sends his friends again?" Gregor asked. He knew it was mean, but it might convince her. Grace jolted upright, eyes wide as she grasped his meaning. A mental war clashed behind her eyes, and finally she relented.

"Fine. Go." Unable to bring herself to say more, she placed her head in her hands and stared at a spot on the table cloth with such intensity that Gregor thought that her gaze alone might ignite the fibers.

Though he was worried about his mom's condition, Gregor could not help but be ecstatic at the chance to see everyone again. He desperately wanted to ask when he could leave but he knew that Grace needed his father's comfort, so he went to his room and contemplated the upcoming journey for the next hour and a half until his dad returned to his room and told him to send a note down to Vikus.

Gregor hastily scrawled a note to say that he would be coming, wanting to deliver it as fast as possible. Taking the scribble-covered paper, he descended the creaky stairs of his apartment building to the basement and went to slip the letter through the iron grate. As he was about to drop it, a familiar striped face popped out and greeted him with a soft purr.

"Greetings, Overlander. Are you ready to drop?" she inquired.

"Nike!" Gregor exclaimed, "I thought only a few people knew about the new prophecy. Did they just tell you or are there more people?"

"There is a new prophecy? I was merely told that I was supposed to retrieve you as you wished to visit!" Nike's eyes went wide with amazement, wonder, and curiousity.

"Oops. Umm, I don't think you were supposed to know that." Gregor mumbled, mentally slapping himself.

"Huh huh huh. It is as well, Overlander. I will tell no one. Bring you your sisters?"

"Yeah, actually. I was just sending down a note to tell you guys to dispatch a bat up here or something. I'll be right back."

Gregor raced up the stairs faster than he could remember and pushed through the door to his apartment, winded. He quickly explained the situation to his family which set in motion frenzied preparations from Lizzie, excited screams from Boots, and disheartened groans from Grace. Lizzie quickly retrieved her flashlight, handed a small keychain-sized one to Boots, and offered one to Gregor. "Nah, I'll be fine." He'd responded with a grin. She looked at him with confusion for a moment, then remembering his echolocation lessons with Ripred, smiled and placed it in a small backpack she carried.

Gregor's parents accompanied him to the grate, hugging and kissing them all goodbye. The children retreated towards the gateway, which emitted coils of the opaque steam-like substance known only as "the currents". After quickly reminding his dad to make up a story for his absence, Gregor dropped in to the darkness, his heart racing with excitement. Soon after, though, a wave of pain swept through him as he landed on Nike, not Ares. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to concentrate on the future and leave the past to itself.

Nike talked a lot, much more than most of the other bats that Gregor had met in the Underland. She happily conversed with him about the goings-on in the Underland and of many things that had happened since he'd left. Rallying his courage, Gregor asked Nike what had occupied his mind for the past months he'd been gone. "How's Luxa?"

"She does not well, Overlander." Nike purred in her soft voice, "I do not know of what ails her personally, but I have noticed that she is often tired and seems to lack her old energy. She has some small illness, perhaps?"

"Maybe." Gregor responded, though he was sure of the real reason.

He'd been the same way since he'd parted ways with Luxa. His thoughts lingered on her until the faint glow of torches that signaled Regalia approached on the underground equivalent of the horizon. As they approached the first sentries mounted outside the city, Gregor quietly reminded Nike not to mention the prophecy. She flew over the familiar streets of Regalia; most of them having been much repaired since the War of Time. The only thing lacking was most of the intricate carvings and glyphs which once adorned all of the city's misty grey architecture.

Gregor heard the voices of many Underlanders greeting him below. They shouted "Overlander!", "The warrior has returned!", or "Gregor!" in a symphony of voices that blended to create a giant welcome. As Nike coasted down for a landing in the High Hall, Gregor eagerly awaited the sight of Howard, Hazard, Mareth, and most of all, Luxa.

Fluttering down in to the massive palace, Nike finally made her landing. Lizzie leapt off of the bat and immediately went to search for Ripred. Gregor picked up Boots with a grunt then followed suit, telling Nike that he was going to search for Vikus. As he walked through the labyrinth of hallways, he stumbled upon Dulcet.

"Hey, Dulcet!" called Gregor. She spun around with a grin.

"Gregor! You have returned! Would you like me to take Boots for you?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Gregor didn't really want to part with Boots so early after his arrival, but he needed to see Luxa. Guessing she might be in her royal chambers; he sprinted there, focusing all of his energy and love and excitement in to speed. Gregor slowed as he approached the curtain that sealed the apartment off from the hallway and, drawing it aside, stepped slowly in to the torch-lit room.

Luxa lay facedown on the bed, unmoving. Aurora was perched on a ledge on the side of the room, looking at her worriedly. As he entered the room, Aurora's small eyes grew, and she started to flap over to him and arouse Luxa. Gregor held up a hand to stop her, and she settled down once more, understanding his motives. He walked stealthily over to her bedside and bent over, smile broadening with every inch closer he came to her.

"Hey, Luxa. I'm back."

Not the best ending, but I have to go to bed. I have two tests tomorrow and I are sleepy. Anyways, read and review. Later, peeps.


	3. Prophecy

It's been a bit since my last update, but I have been busy reading _Brisingr_, and that's why. (If you haven't read the Inheritance cycle, go do so now! It owns. Like, seriously.)

I am the not-so-proud not-owner of the Underland Chronicles. Cries inside

Chapter Three

Luxa leapt from her bed on to the cold stone floor, her body tense as if she expected to have to ward off some enemy attacker. A moment later, her eyes rest upon Gregor and after briefly staring at him, puzzled, her face broke in to a broad grin and she enveloped him in a bone-crushing embrace.

Smiling happily, Gregor returned Luxa's hug and for a while they just stood there; each content to be in the arms of the other. Finally, Luxa pulled back slightly and looked at Gregor with an expression that encompassed curiosity, happiness, confusion, and most of all, love. She hesitated for a moment, her rich amethyst eyes continuing to look in to his golden brown ones. Gregor thought that he could be happy forever just losing himself in her beautiful eyes.

"What are you doing here, Gregor?" she asked softly. Apparently, Vikus had not informed her of the new Prophecy and what it entailed. Of course, Gregor himself didn't really know what it entailed, either. With a mental shrug, he decided to save the whole prophecy conversation for later and allow himself to be happy with Luxa for now.

"Well, I don't really know if I'm supposed to tell you that. I'll let Vikus explain, he knows what's going on a lot more than I do." Gregor responded with a hint of confusion, his own mind shifting to the curious situation before him. Why had Vikus deemed it necessary to keep even Luxa from knowing about the Prophecy? Was it even worse than "The Prophecy of Time"?

Gregor saw his confusion and other emotions mirrored in Luxa's pale face. Shaking her head and giving a slight sigh, she muttered something about Vikus and his secrets. She returned her gaze to Gregor and upon her face once again appeared a dazzling smile. The two adolescents continued to stare at each other for some unknown length of time and Gregor eventually pressed his lips against hers. She drew herself closer to him and deepened the kiss. But, as it always was when they got a private moment, someone felt the need to barge in.

Brisk footsteps echoed from behind the slightly open door that led in to the hallway and Luxa hurriedly pulled away from Gregor before the servant or whomever was coming could see anything that they shouldn't. Seconds later, a familiar voice sounded from the crack between the misty grey wall and hard stone door, "Luxa? Be you here?" Both Gregor and Luxa's faces immediately broke in to delighted grins and, after exchanging brief and excited glances, they hurried towards the door.

"Howard!" exclaimed Luxa, shoving the heavy door aside. The tall, muscular Underlander stepped through the threshold and in to Luxa's private rooms, an overjoyed expression on his face. Luxa flung her arms around him in one of the rare acts of affection she offered to Howard and he returned the gesture, his face still excited. The joy on Howard's face became elation when he spotted Gregor standing behind Luxa.

"Gregor! You have returned!" he said, Gregor could tell he was trying to keep from yelling with excitement.

"Sure have. How's it going, Howard?" Gregor responded, his own smile widening.  
"I have been well. I am most troubled, however, by being so suddenly summoned to Regalia yesterday. My visits, as you know, are not frequent; for such a hasty invitation to be extended I worry that something is amiss." Howard's serious face grew solemn as he said this. "Know you what has happened Luxa, Gregor?"

"I'll let Vikus explain." Gregor answered tersely.

"Ah, very well then. Let us go find him, shall we?"

The three youths journeyed slowly to the High Hall, talking of all that had occurred during the past months in Gregor's absence. Gregor spoke of his life in the Overland at Luxa's request, though he didn't find much of importance to talk about other than how much he missed her. But he couldn't talk about that in front of Howard, so he offered a brief story and shut his mouth.

"So where's Hazard, Luxa?" Gregor questioned, he wanted to see how the halflander boy was doing.

"He is busy with his lessons at the moment. I am sure that once he learns of your presence here he will be happy to greet yourself and Boots." Luxa responded with a grin.

As they entered the High Hall, they were met by yet another unexpected denizen of the Underland; though one not quite as welcome a sight to Gregor as Howard had been. The large grey rat moved slowly and lazily across the large expanse of the High Hall, quite obviously annoyed that he had to exert the effort. Or maybe it was something else, something that Gregor didn't know about. Spying the company, he stopped and broke in to a ratty smile, displaying the yellow, six inch fangs that protruded from his skull.

"Well, well, well. The mighty warrior graces us with his powerful presence once more. What an honor." Ripred drawled in his usual sarcastic manner.

"Glad to see you again, too, Ripred." Gregor responded. Luxa and Howard also gave polite greetings and inclined their heads.

"No you're not." The rat stated with some amusement. "If you were so eager to see me, you'd have brought Lizzie and lots of shrimp and cream sauce. Maybe one of those delectable... donuts?" Gregor couldn't help but give a bit of a laugh as Ripred managed to complain about every possible circumstance, as usual.

"Have you been practicing your echolocation, boy?" Ripred growled, cutting his amusement short.

"Well… yes. No. Sort of. Not as much I should. But Lizzie made me." Gregor had known that Ripred would ask, but had failed to fabricate any excuse that would please that rat. He assumed Ripred would rather have the truth, anyway. The rat sighed and smoothed his grimy fur over a long scar on his stomach where Henry had tried to kill him during the "Prophecy of Gray" quest. That journey seemed years ago to Gregor...

"We'll have to work on that. But enough dawdling, I'm getting bored. Vikus waits. You pups would do best to get to the Council Room." Ripred stated as if it didn't matter if he himself was late. Gregor refrained from pointing this out because he knew he would receive a sarcastic excuse, but Luxa, as his bond, had no such inhibition. The giant rat matter-of-factly stated that it didn't matter if he was late because no one cared, but the queen and the warrior were held to higher standards.

"You'd think someone might care if the king of rats was late," Gregor thought, "but I guess the humans still don't really hold them to the same level as other species."Unable to argue with his response, Gregor, Luxa, and Howard adjourned to the aforesaid room.

Upon arriving in the former Council's chambers, Gregor was surprised and also a bit disappointed to find that a new council had been elected to rule Regalia in Luxa's stead until she was of age on her sixteenth birthday. Gregor whispered his annoyance to Luxa, who responded by saying "They may be the 'official' rulers of Regalia, but after the War of Time and its aftermath, I hold much more influence in the city than they." Satisfied, he returned his attentions to the center of the room.

At that moment, Vikus hobbled slowly but deliberately in to the room. He supported the weight of one side heavily upon a metal cane. Gregor felt a pang of sympathy for the old man: in recent months he had lost his wife, much of his city, the use of half his body, and he had more responsibility than ever towards his people despite his disability and sorrow.

Gregor stood and waved to him, "Hey, Vikus!" he practically yelled. Vikus turned to him and smiled, his violet eyes emitting their strange twinkle that never failed to give Gregor Vikus's everlasting gift: hope.

"Greetings, Gregor. I am pleased that you have returned to Regalia. These are dire times and the warrior is most welcome among us." Vikus stated, his voice was still rough from the stroke of months before. Many of the council muttered amongst themselves after his mention of dire times and gave Vikus curious looks. The room grew silent and the congregation waited upon Vikus to further explain his previous words.

Vikus cleared his throat and began to address the gathering of people. Gregor was tense as he waited to hear about this new scourge, "The Prophecy of Power," that threatened the Underland once again. Luxa noticed his unrest and gave his hand a quick squeeze while the others' attention was focused on Vikus. He gave her a quick, grateful glance and returned his attention to her grandfather.

"Friends, you all know of Sandwich's prophecies and of Gregor's role within them. He has performed the task of the warrior bravely and admirably and with his supposed 'death' some months ago his service was ended, or so we thought."

The room grew still, not even the sound of breathing could be discerned among the listeners. The only thing to break the silence save Vikus's voice was Ripred shifting in to a position that displayed his atrocious posture perfectly.

"After the "Prophecy of Time" fulfilled itself, we paid little heed to it. Why should we if events it foretold had already come to pass? Nerissa was examining this latest prophecy one week previous to now. I do not know why, but reasons have little to do with it. She discovered that after the prophecy was completed that there was a small groove around the stone that held it. After prying on it for some moments, it slid free to reveal another prophecy behind it. Another prophecy about the Overlander, the warrior, about Gregor and about circumstances that are most dreadful."

As Vikus concluded, a roar enveloped the once silent room as people asked questions, demanded to see the prophecy, or otherwise forged havoc from the previously quiet atmosphere. Vikus frowned and held up a hand, causing the din to cease and quickly as it had arisen.

"Luxa, Aurora, Howard, Gregor, Ripred, Nerissa. Come." He turned and, supporting himself on the thin metal rod, walked out of the room. The ones he had specified rose from their chairs and quickly moved to his side, following him to the Prophecy Room. Gregor's mind was occupied by visions of nightmarish prophecies that demanded the destruction of Regalia and the lives of Luxa, Boots, and other people he cared for.

"Maybe I'll leave Boots here this time. I don't know, she's been with me all the times before and been okay. Vikus said that this one was pretty bad, but it can't be worse than the last one can it?" Gregor thought of various circumstances and concluded that he would try to figure out the prophecy first and worry about the quest and its contents afterwards. He hoped the journey, if there was one, would be simple this time. Maybe they could just go out and kill a few rats and go home without incident. Yeah, right, because Sandwich loved that kind of prophecy.

As the party drew close to the thick wooden door of the Prophecy Room, they paused. Howard's face was pensive, Luxa whispered fearfully with Aurora; her hand clasped Gregor's regardless of their current company. Ripred snickered at the two, Nerissa was silent. Vikus's voice was like the shattering of a fallen glass, so unexpected it caused everyone except Ripred to jump in surprise.

"Are you all ready?" he inquired. The group murmured assent and he quietly unlocked the door with a special key and pushed it open; the groans of the ancient hinges made Gregor shiver. Vikus walked into the ruddy sphere of light cast by a single torch which illuminated a depression in the finely cut stone. Within the hole were carved in Sandwich's distinctive style a poetic verse:

__

_The Prophecy of Power_

_Now that enemy's blood is spilled,_

_And the Warrior thought to be killed._

_Another threat rises, a new creature seeks power,_

_The whole of Underland he seeks to devour._

_Revive the Warrior, he fights again,_

_Without his help human lives shall end._

_A king who finds bright peace so dark,_

_Shall upon the Underland make his mark._

_War now threatens Regalia again,_

_And it's Regalia he wants to rend._

_Herald of a long-lost time_

_Dark Bane's conquest seeks to mime._

_Signified by death and rage,_

_Yet cunning, wise and ancient of age._

_Within rats' land grows discontent,_

_From his throne new gnawer king is sent._

_New allies brought the gnawer king,_

_And no more of peace shall Under sing._

_Take the Warrior, take his friends,_

_Bring him to the tunnels' ends._

_On silent feet they must go now,_

_And to no gnawer they must bow._

_To stop the killing, end his might,_

_Drain dark beast's kingly light._

_But do not be seen, make no fight_

_Until enemy's identity is in sight._

_To avoid savage war, end ancient past now soon_

_Or else dark future shall be sewn. _

"Wow."

That was all Gregor managed to say. Everyone else seemed equally bound by silence, as if reading the new prophecy had placed upon them some spell that stopped sound. Finally, Gregor managed to ask a question about the prophecy that had bothered him.

"Why does it say the rat king gets kicked off the throne? I mean, isn't Ripred the king?"

"Was the king, boy. The prophecy has begun."

Well, let me know what you think.

(Lol at Ripred. He got kicked off the throne. Ha!)


	4. Nightmare

Sorry for having another update-wait. Been busy with life and what it entails. Also, sorry about the grammar issues and such last chapter… It was late when I finished it and I wanted to get it posted up so I didn't have time for a serious review of it. This chapter is a wee bit shorter than the others so I apologize in advance. Not everyone has Seraphania's 5,000 word chapter skillz. )

I don't own the Underland Chronicles. Neither do I own a pony. It's all lies!

Chapter Four

Gregor stared at Ripred in disbelief, his mouth hanging open slightly. Part of that disbelief was because he didn't want to think that events were already set in motion and part of it lay in that anyone could forcefully make Ripred go anywhere against his will. It wasn't an easy task to make the giant sarcastic rager-rat do what you want.

"What?"

"You heard me, pup. Don't make me repeat myself." Ripred grumbled in an annoyed tone.

The rest of the group, Vikus excluded, seemed likewise astonished.

"This 'new gnawer king' must be about twice as big as the Bane if he's making Ripred do anything." Gregor thought with some grim amusement.

"No, he can't beat me in a fight. He just has friends. Many, many friends." Ripred stated with a sigh as if he was reading the groups' thoughts. Which, knowing Ripred, he may very well have been doing.

Silence reigned for a minute after his comment before Luxa ventured to ask "So, Vikus, shall we dissect this new prophecy now so that we may decide upon a course of action for the coming days?"

Vikus cleared his throat and responded "Yes, Luxa. I believe that may be our best plan at the moment. If we may begin at the beginning...

_Now that enemy's blood is spilled,_

_And the Warrior thought to be killed._

_Another threat rises, a new creature seeks power,_

_And it's the Underland he seeks to devour."_

"What think you?"

"Well," Gregor offered, "I guess that the first two lines are talking about my fight with the Bane, so that means Sandwich didn't intend for me to literally die after all. The next two lines are saying that there's another rat who wants to destroy the entire Underland again." To which he added a mental "Great."

Vikus nodded his assent, as did the rest of those gathered.

"Very well, then. To next four lines it is." Vikus said.

"_Revive the Warrior, he fights again,_

_Without his help human lives shall end._

_A king who finds bright peace so dark,_

_Shall upon the Underland make his mark."_

The congregation was silent for a moment as Vikus's words sank in. After a bit of consideration, Howard spoke. "I believe that the meaning of these lines are that we must return Gregor to the Underland or we shall not succeed in the approaching venture. The next lines say that the reason for this wrathful gnawer's rise is that he does not believe there should be peace between the rats and humans."

"I believe I speak for us all when I say that I agree, Howard." Vikus responded. "Next…

_War now threatens Regalia again,_

_And it's Regalia he wants to rend._

_Herald of a long-lost time,_

_Dark Bane's conquest he seeks to mime._

_Signified by death and rage_

_Yet cunning, wise and ancient of age._

This time Luxa interpreted the lines; she spoke with authority and confidence. "I suppose that this means our new adversary wishes to bring another war to our people. Let him do so, and we shall be victorious, just as we were in the War of Time. I do not care how cunning or wise this gnawer may be, his time will run out as soon as he makes the foolish mistake of attacking Regalia. I do not, however, understand the last portion about age. Gnawers do not have any elongated lifespan, no? He shall die either way, I suppose."

"Indeed, let us hope so. But what of the long-lost time line and its successor? I suppose the part about 'Dark Bane's Conquest' is not difficult, but what of the first?" Vikus replied wearily; he leaned heavily upon his cane and his old age seemed to be magnified for a moment.

No one had a clue.

Gregor smiled slightly at Luxa's front of being indestructible, but he noticed the smallest glint of fear in her lilac eyes. He briefly wondered about the "ancient of age" and "long-lost time" segments before Vikus moved on to the next line and read aloud:

_"Within rats' land grows discontent,_

_From his throne new gnawer king is sent._

_New allies brought the gnawer king,_

_And no more of peace shall Under sing."_

Ripred surprised everyone, especially Gregor, by speaking up. An angry growl tore from between the rat's bared fangs before he began, "Allow me to translate. The gnawers back at the tunnels do not _like_ the humans. The humans do not _like_ the gnawers. They never have, they never will. They are at peace because Luxa and I made it so and thought we could create a lasting peace. For once in my life, I was wrong. My kind was not particularly overjoyed to hear of the compromise, even after our heavy losses in the War of Time. There were many who will this peace to end and so one particular rat, whom I guess this prophecy is speaking of, named Rupture formed around him a rebellion. The mongrels marched on my cave while I slept and demanded I 'take my sorry hide from the tunnels'. I would've killed the traitor was he not surrounded by at least two hundred other rats at the time."

Everyone was quiet now; Ripred's comments had invoked worry among all those present to hear. The silence pressed down on them, suffocating the scattered remnants of hope that this new prophecy may not be so dire yet.

Gregor shattered the oppressive stillness by voicing a question that he was sure burned in to the others' minds as well.

"I understand the peace part, there's a war and all that. But, I mean, what about the whole 'new allies' part? Are they going to ally with the cutters or something? I don't understand why the cutters would help the rats anyway, they hate them too, right? Whoever it is, it doesn't sound very good for us."

"I do not know, Gregor. I am sure that the cutters would not ally themselves to the rats. However, I cannot say the same for the spinners as you may recall from our journey during the "Prophecy of Grey." I should think the rats could win over the shiners quite easily and, if they do, we may all be doomed." Luxa answered.

The sarcastic joke was so unexpected that no one quite understood for a moment. The misunderstanding soon melted like butter and the laughter that followed heartened everyone and made the whole situation seem more bearable. Confidence renewed, they once again began the tedious and grim task of trying to understand Sandwich's newest divination. Vikus read aloud:

_"Take the Warrior, take his friends,_

_Bring him to the tunnels' ends. _

_On silent feet the must go now,_

_And to no gnawer must they bow."  
_

"I think the meaning here is somewhat apparent," Vikus continued, "We must take Gregor, Luxa, Howard, and a few others to the tunnels of the rats and proceed with the quest in stealth. They must not hark any gnawer's words, save perhaps Ripred's, for..."

"For if the pups do not hark Ripred, it would be very unhealthy for them indeed." the rat finished with a wicked grin, only half joking.

"But if Ripred does such to his bond, he would not be so fortunate as to find refuge in Regalia nor the tunnels lest he be punished quite severely." Luxa responded with one of her half-smiles. Gregor caught her eye after she finished and they just looked at each other for as long as they could. He wanted to take her hand, but Howard was already beginning to raise his eyebrow at the way Gregor and Luxa were staring at each other. The two both quickly averted their gazes before Howard's suspicions were raised further.  
Gregor sighed inaudibly and thought, "Why can't people just accept us?" He continued to ponder the question for a moment until his chain of thought was interrupted by Vikus moving on to the final lines of the prophecy.

_"To stop the killing, end his might,_

_Drain dark beast's kingly light. _

_But do not be seen, make no fight_

_Until enemy's identity is in sight._

_To avoid savage war, end ancient past now soon,_

_Or else dark future shall be sewn."_

"What thoughts have you all on Sandwich's final words?" Vikus inquired. Ripred cast Gregor a speedy glance that said "I, for one, think he's a loony and his demented scrawlings should be treated thus." Gregor had the desire to laugh; however, he knew that wouldn't be good for his reputation as "the warrior" and fought it down.

Howard responded by summarizing their endeavors: "It seems we must kill this rat… Rupture, did you say, Ripred? In any case, we must drain his light and heed Sandwich's warning to avoid detection while doing so. It will be a difficult task to evade the rats' keen sense of smell but I believe it can be done. It seems we have already taken care of discovering this rat, Rupture's, identity. Odd that it should be so easy to do such, is it not? It also seems to contradict itself in that it says not to make a fight until we know who our opponent is but we already know now." Vikus nodded, a perplexed look on his face, and the rest of the party seemed to generally agree.

"Very well then," Vikus concluded, "it is quite late. Likely around eleven o'clock, by Overland standards. I suggest you all retire for the night. Tomorrow you shall begin some new training along with the more common swordsplay and gymnastics. At the Council's suggestion, you will be trained in some of the arts that most would avoid but we find necessary: subtlety. It will be difficult, as Howard said, to outmatch the rats' sense of smell, but if they hear you then all shall be just as lost as otherwise. We will discuss this in more detail on the morrow, good night to you all." With that said, Vikus limped out of the room.

Howard and Ripred soon followed after terse good nights, as well as the bats. Soon, only Gregor and Luxa remained behind in the dying sphere of orange-yellow torchlight. They were content for a little while just being near each other, but Luxa seemed uneasy.  
"What's wrong, Luxa?" Gregor asked softly. He felt slightly foolish for asking, as if she didn't have enough that could be on her mind.

"Much is not as it should be, Gregor. I am sorry that you were dragged down in to our affairs again. You should not have been." Luxa sighed. She entwined her fingers with his and they sat together for an undetermined amount of time, Luxa leaning against Gregor's chest and his chin resting on her silky hair, before they finally rose and parted ways so that they could achieve a suitable amount of rest for the long day ahead of them.

A servant Gregor had never met before led him to a small room that he was told was next to the one Lizzie and Boots', who were already in bed, slept in. He quietly thanked the Underlander and crawled wearily into the waiting blankets; he was both mentally and physically exhausted by the day's events and revelations.

For a time Gregor slept peacefully, his night visions were not disturbed by his worldly cares. After a time, however, the dreams steadily shifted in to nightmares. Nightmares of Ares' death.

_Wing in claws… Fangs through neck…Sword in heart…Falling…Dying…Lost…Screaming… "Ares! Don't go!"_

With a jolt Gregor awoke completely, cold sweat dripping from his body and causing his skin to reflect the dim candlelight. His screams must have happened outside of his mind, too, because he heard the rapid thrum of hurried footsteps outside his room and in a few seconds Lizzie was standing in the doorway; the premature worry lines that marked her young face showed clearly in the flame's light.

"Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

"I will be."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright… You're sure you don't need anything?"

"Just time…" Gregor responded with a wan smile.

Lizzie didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the matter. She didn't need to ask if it was about Ares; Gregor had enough nightmares back at home in New York about his encounter with the Bane. She gave him a final, concerned glance and then proceeded slowly out of the room with a sigh.

Gregor lay awake for a long time afterward. He wrestled with his unruly thoughts and emotions and struggled to stay calm and to return to a peaceful slumber. He couldn't. Finally, though, after multiple hours of inner conflict, Gregor's fatigued body and soul drifted in to the waiting embrace of oblivion.


	5. Training

Sorry that I've taken over a week to add another update I had a pretty busy week at school and last weekend I got to write seven essays, do lots of yard work and various other forms of work due to my l33t procrastination skills

Sorry that I've taken over a week to add another update I had a pretty busy week at school and last weekend I got to write seven essays, do lots of yard work and various other forms of work due to my l33t procrastination skills. And I also spent the night at my friends house because of my amazing work ethic and so overall… yeah. Here it is, anyway; and if Seraphania reads this: Good luck on your OF. ; )

Don't own Underland Chronicles, never will. I do own my few new charries, though.

Chapter Five

Gregor was aroused from slumber at what he guessed was roughly around nine o'clock by a servant that he recognized from the day before. He was told that Vikus, Luxa, Ripred, and everyone else of importance would meet him in half an hour at the High Hall. Gregor thanked the man for his message and the clean, silky Underland garments he brought and departed his sleeping quarters for the bathing rooms.

He pondered the upcoming quest as he padded through the nearly deserted stone hallways in the palace and wondered what new dangers the "Prophecy of Power" might entail. He was so engrossed in his thoughts he nearly walked right by the bathroom and only stopped because he felt the cool steam that wafted from behind the curtained doorway brush its cool fingers across his face.

Gregor entered the swirling opalescent mist and proceeded to the flowing waters where he removed his sweaty and time-worn clothes. He gratefully sank in to warm, waist-high stream and splashed it across his face; Gregor felt the knots of tension fade from his back as he sat down upon the stone bench that was hidden beneath the gurgling waters. He washed his hair with a glob of gooey substance he located beside the medieval bathtub and otherwise performed his normal shower routine back home.

After what Gregor guessed to be around fifteen minutes, he rose and exited the soothing pool. He grabbed one of the spinner-silk towels and dried himself with it, marveling at how well it absorbed the water. Gregor dressed himself in the smoky blue tunic and leggings that the palace servant had left him and donned the style of Underland sandals that he normally wore during his visits. Thus outfitted, he left the misty haze behind him and proceeded to meet his friends and companions at the High Hall.

Gregor returned to his earlier musings as he meandered down the torch-lit corridors of Regalia's royal keep.

"This prophecy better not take any more of the people I know down here. I don't know how many more I can lose without someone like Luxa or Howard or Hazard dying. I'm not sure I could take that, especially if it was Luxa..."

Gregor turned a corner and the huge, open expanse of the High Hall entered his field of vision. The long stone table was adorned with a myriad of expertly prepared dishes and around it was an array of decorative chairs. In those ornamented seats were Luxa, Vikus, Howard, and Nerissa. Gregor saw the fliers perched above upon a rocky ledge far above as they waited for the remaining guests to arrive.

He nodded to Aurora and Nike and then took a seat across the table from Luxa. Howard had no doubt intentionally flanked her to the left so that, with Nerissa on her right, Gregor would be unable to sit next to her. Howard smiled innocently at him when he entered the massive room and Luxa did the same; hers, however was more genuine, although it was only a veil for the worries she kept hidden behind her unyielding mask.

"Greetings, Gregor. Did you rest well?" Vikus inquired cheerfully from his chair at the head of the table.

"Yeah, I slept pretty well. Thanks." Gregor lied. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep because of his nightmares. Luxa seemed to notice his falsehood and raised an eyebrow at him but remained silent.

"That is well. The others should be here shortly." Vikus responded, his amethyst eyes twinkled as they so often did.

As Vikus had said, the remaining attendees slowly began to trickle in. First came Lizzie accompanied by her favorite gnawer (who looked quite pleased by his new company), then came Hazard, Mareth and, to Gregor's delight, Temp. The roach had been a steadfast companion in nearly every venture and had proved his worth time and time again. As an added bonus, Boots loved him with all of her three-year-old heart.

"Where is Boots, anyway? I've been so busy I've barely even thought about it since I left her with Dulcet." Gregor worried silently.

As if in answer to his questions, Dulcet strode in to the room bearing the heavy burden of Boots' toddler body. She placed her load upon the ground with a grunt of exertion.

"You are well grown, Boots. Soon, I will be unable to carry you any longer!" Dulcet said with a broad smile.

"It okay, Dulcie," Boots piped proudly in response, face beaming. "Me big girl. I can walk myself." She then turned around to face the group of quest members and people of importance who were arranged around the huge table in preparation to illustrate her point.

"Hi Gregor! Hi Luxa! Hi Howard! Hi rat! Hi Lizzie!" Boots continued in this manner for everyone present at the table, or hanging above it, until her chubby fingers pointed to Temp. Upon this gesture, she screamed in excitement and rushed over to the roach and enveloped him in a toddler hug while placing slobbery kisses around his face. Her friendly attitude and excitement despite the grim circumstances made everyone laugh and brightened the serious mood that until previously had reigned over the room. Unfortunately, it also caused something else to start talking.

"So, when are we going to be allowed to eat all this food you have here Vikus? I'm starving, you know. I haven't had a good meal in days!" Ripred complained in his normal bored tone.

"As I seem to remember, Ripred, you indulged in quite a bit of shrimp and cream sauce last night." The old man observed; Ripred grumbled something unintelligible, probably about how one meal didn't make up for weeks of deprivation or some other dramatic lie, and afterward refrained from speaking until he was allowed to consume his meal.

With the full group assembled in the High Hall, the bats descended lazily to the floor and alighted upon the seats near where the fish was placed.

Everyone exchanged greetings with the fliers and looked to Vikus; he nodded and everyone piled their plates with various types of sustenance. Ripred avoided placing food upon his plate entirely and reached his ratty paw around a pot of shrimp, pulled it towards him, and stuffed his hairy head right inside the pot. The loud slurping sounds emitted by Ripred's style of eating caused Boots to giggle and make attempts to do similar things with the food on her plate which succeeded in coating her features with a mixture of some type of greens, soup, pudding, and grease from her meat.

Dulcet, who stood behind Boots, laughed softly and hurried forward to remove the mess from around her mouth. This caused Boots to produce more of her contagious laughter and inspired her to reproduce the act.

Gregor wished that he was able to sit next to Luxa, but was glad that he could talk to her from his current seat. The food was excellent and so was the conversation, considering the circumstances; everyone attempted to release their thoughts of the menacing journey ahead of them long enough to enjoy the all too short reprieve from madness that the meal offered.

After everyone present had filled their bellies and exchanged enough conversation to be content, Vikus stood and the echoes of speech faded from the grey walls of the palace as people quieted to hear him talk. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"As you all know far too well, Sandwich has entrapped us in yet another prophecy of a most dismal nature. The notice is too short to prepare as much as we would like to, but it is always thus. I have spoken with the Council and decided that the quest shall begin three days hence, including today. All those attending shall be trained for these next few days in various fields and will be informed as we receive information on this rat, Rupture, and his activities. A few rats loyal to Ripred, including Lapblood, are still among the tunnels and are gathering knowledge about our foe for us. The ones who come will be the following: Gregor, Luxa, Howard, Ripred, Temp, Aurora, Nike, and Artemis. As for Boots, Lizzie, and Hazard, I leave to you to decide. Do you wish to bring your sisters, Gregor?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure yet. I mean, if this prophecy is really dangerous I kind of don't want them to come but at the same time I don't want to leave them here. I'll think about it. Who's Artemis?" Gregor answered.

"We are definitely coming!" Lizzie yelled from down the table with unusual conviction.

"Artemis is a flier who Queen Athena has granted us permission to use for this journey; she is quite strong and agile. She will likely be the one to carry Ripred." Vikus explained, temporarily ignoring Lizzie's comment; he seemed quite worried about the mission into the rat's lands. For good reason, too.

"Oh, okay. Do you think Hazard should come, Luxa?"

The beautiful young girl shifted indecisively in her chair. "I do not know. On one hand, his gift of tongues may be useful in communicating with any rats, but at the same time if we are forced to communicate with a rat it is probably quite a bad situation. Also, the rats, for the most part, know our language and it could be quite dangerous; we have Ripred, too, in order to speak the rat's tongue."

"Use your common sense, all of you." Ripred growled from his chair as he shifted in to a position that exemplified his terrible posture quite well. "We can not bring any pups on this journey. Hazard and Lizzie, perhaps. I don't mind them so much and I believe that they can listen if I directly tell them to shut up. But the Warrior's baby sister? No way, I wouldn't bring that child on a stealth mission if it meant facing Rupture and his horde by myself."

The table was silent as they contemplated what Ripred has said. Gregor had to acknowledge the truth of it, but he still didn't enjoy the concept of leaving his sisters behind and running off in to enemy territory with the possibility of not seeing them again. He thought of his mom and how worried she must be right now. "Ripred, as always, has a point. I can't bring Boots and expect her not to make any noise. She's only three, after all. She won't stay quiet the whole trip at her age." Gregor thought, sighing inaudibly.

At Vikus's command, Mareth collected the humans and fliers and herded them out to the training field in order to receive their combat practice. When Gregor walked out on to the springy moss that covered the ground at the arena his heart jolted with the memories that were centered around the area. This was where he had first met Luxa, where he had danced with her and his feelings about her had first started to develop. This was where he had trained with Ares and met Howard and Vikus. This was where he had begun his short friendship with Thalia and where the humans and gnawers had made their attempt at peace. Memories flooded his mind, but the ones of Ares cut through all of the muddle and grief for his bond's loss nearly immobilized him.

Gregor realized then that he had stopped walking and that Luxa was watching him with concern; he forced a wan smile and muttered an apology. Luxa shook her head and sighed sorrowfully.

"No, Gregor. It is not you who needs to apologize. It is I, us, everyone of the Underland, for taking so much away from you because you were forced to fight for us regardless of your choices."

"Maybe, but you've also given me more than you can imagine. I think that it was worth saving." Gregor said softly, looking in to Luxa's deep violet eyes. She placed a pale hand on his shoulder and smiled radiantly, white teeth showing clearly in the orange torchlight.

"Come. Let us train. We can speak again this evening, I hope." With that, the two walked together out into the center of the large coliseum.

"Alright, then," Mareth barked in his coaching tone of voice, "I want the fliers to practice aerial flips and spins while everyone else runs ten laps around. Also… Ah, there is Artemis!"

Even as he spoke, a large bat, not entirely too much smaller than Ares, with dull, ruddy fur and mottled specks of gold and black along its wings descended swiftly unto the field. Artemis landed gracefully and purred in a deep, rich voice, "Greetings, everyone. Greetings, Queen Luxa and Warrior. An honor to meet you. I look forward to your company in the coming journey, though it be under dire circumstances."

Everyone returned the flier's greeting civilly and Gregor was silently amazed by the bat's speech. He had never really seen one talk in English that much save Ares, but they were bonds. That was a little bit different. Gregor watched as the three bats launched in to the underground sky and begin to perform aerial maneuvers of great skill.

"Anyway, back to us. Ten laps, all of you!" Mareth ordered. Broken from his observation, Gregor quickly took his place running and allowed the steady rhythm of his shoes against the ground to push the stray, distracting thoughts from his mind and force him to focus on running. He was the first one to finish and waited as the others came up close behind him, all of them were panting.

They moved on to the familiar exercises of swordsmanship, the regular sit ups and push ups, leg lifts, etcetera. To Gregor's dismay, they soon reached the activity with the canons and blood balls which he dreaded almost as much as the cartwheels.. Though he didn't want to, he knew it was expected; Gregor quickly hacked down the 15 blood balls as his rager senses buzzed excitedly under his skin and returned, painted in red, to the group of Underlanders.

The day passed quickly under the strict training regimen that Mareth had them follow and Gregor enjoyed the thoughtless push, losing himself in the heat of physical exertion. His only discontent was when they had to perform gymnastics, which he merely endured with minimal embarrassment until the next activity was presented. After many hours, Mareth called the training to a halt.

"Stop you. You have all done well. We will continue with some different things on the morrow; return to the palace and eat and rest. You have earned it."

Everyone thanked him and said goodbye. As they all returned down the dimly lit passageways to Regalia's palace, Luxa and Gregor managed to slip slightly behind the main group and spoke in quiet tones about a range of subjects. When they reached the palace the two separated to bathe and remove their now-smelly clothes.

Gregor repeated his ritual of earlier that day and returned once again to the High Hall where the meal was much the same with the exception that Ripred was not present and that Vikus did not make any speech about the prophecy. Gregor started to wonder about Ripred missing dinner, but quickly concluded that the rat would definitely make sure to visit the chefs afterward. Also, Artemis joined them for dinner that evening. As Luxa rose from the table after finishing her meal, she gave Gregor a very subtle motion to follow and slipped out of the room, her silky dress flowing gracefully behind her.

Gregor excused himself and hurriedly walked towards her royal quarters in the palace. He found her curled up on a comfortable couch staring in to the dancing flames of a crackling fire. She gave him a soft smile when he entered and patted the cushion next to her. He obliged and sat.

Luxa leaned on to his chest and the two remained there, not talking, enjoying each other's company and the warmth offered by the fire's glowing light. After about an hour, Luxa's breathing slowed and Gregor realized that she had fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, he remained, and slowly began to drift off, himself. At first he fought it, knowing it probably wouldn't be good if he was found sleeping in Luxa's room. He soon gave in to the nagging tug of his exhaustion, however. A content grin reigned over his face as he sank in to unconsciousness, happier than he had been in a long time.

Alright, that'd the end of chapter five. 3,000 words, hurray! Anyways, please review after you read, I only have five and I want more! MORE, I TELL YOU! Cackles maniacally Ahem, well, I have a psychiatric appointment now... Review!


	6. Zanielm

Now presenting "The Prophecy of Power" chapter five! It is available now on a computer near you. But, you probably already know that. Sorry for the wait, been busy or haven't felt like writing when I have time. Will try to update more often, been meaning to for the past couple days. OH – also to the last review I got.

I implied that Gregor had been away from the Underland for five months.

Grace wasn't happy to let him go back.

Gregor's father is _not_ well again. I apologize if it seemed that way. Just because I didn't dwell on it doesn't mean he's good and well; he is doing better after five months and I did not remain on the issue. Sorry if it was vague.

As to the speed, well, that's a matter of opinion that you are entitled to.

I understand that's your opinion but… I never said anything about his father being well and if you were paying attention you'd hopefully notice the five months thing. As I said before, I don't mind **constructive** criticism but if you're just going to rant about it then I'd prefer not to hear your sentiments as they are neither helpful to me nor are they entertaining to read. Nor do they feed my ego. As for Grace's OOCness… Well, I'm not Suzanne Collins, we each read her characters differently. It'd be nice if I had that much money, though.

Okay, so, I'm done ranting. Sorry about that.

Chapter Six

Gregor slowly began to stir from his sleep-induced stupor. He vaguely recognized his surroundings as being in Luxa's royal quarters and felt her head resting against his chest; her silky silver hair obscuring the sculpted features on her face. Gregor smiled lightly at the sight and avoided moving for fear of disturbing her slumber.

He glanced idly about the room and noticed little difference from last night other than that the blaze which had crackled in the fireplace in front of the couch was now dead and gone. Nothing remained as evidence of its existence but a small pile of gray ashes that lay upon the cold stone; they attested the warming glow that had resided in its place the night before.

After a relatively short period of time, though it might have actually been a larger amount; Gregor wasn't sure due to the state of drowsy contentment, Luxa stirred. She yawned and lifted her head from his chest, blinking several times, and rubbed her eyes. It seemed to take her a minute to understand her situation, but after reaching this awareness, she happily replaced her head upon its previous resting place.

The two remained together for a while and, inevitably, Gregor's lips met Luxa's. They stayed this way for no longer than a couple of seconds before a loud, feminine voice called to Luxa from the hallway outside.

"Excuse me, Your Highness, are you aroused?" Gregor assumed that it was a servant who awoke her in the mornings. He and Luxa parted and she stood up from the downy couch.

"Yes, I am indeed awake. What do you require, Veria?" Luxa responded to the call irritably.

"Breakfast is to commence soon; you should ready yourself. Also, have you seen the Warrior? I believe he was sent for and was not present in his room." Veria's voice hollered from outside again. At her statement, Luxa's cheeks flushed red.

"I believe I can find him; do not worry yourself with it. Now, be gone, I would like to be… alone." Luxa spoke the final words with a smile directed at Gregor and he chuckled softly.

The young queen sighed regretfully. "I suppose that we must part now, Gregor. You should bathe in the hallway adjacent to this one; I shall have clothes brought for you. If you wish, we may meet outside of this room afterwards and proceed to the High Hall."

"Yeah, sure. I'll see you in a little while." Gregor gave her a brief hug and then, after checking to make sure the hallway was deserted, continued towards the Underland bathroom. He got lost for a moment because he generally did not normally stay in this wing of the palace but quickly regained his positioning and bathed in the relaxing currents of water that flowed through – or maybe under, he wasn't sure – Regalia's palace.

After sufficiently cleansing himself Gregor exited the miniature river and found some ash colored, silver-black clothes waiting for him along with a pair of Underland shoes. After adorning himself with his new garments and messing with his unruly hair, Gregor exited the room. He started to walk down the hallway when he ran into Nerissa.

"Hey Nerissa, how are you doing?" Gregor asked, stopping.

"Greetings, Gregor. I am not unwell, though I would not say that I am well either." Responded the frail girl, she also stopped and placed a hand upon the wall in an effort to support herself.

"Oh, I noticed you were pretty quiet yesterday."

"Yes, I was not feeling very well yesterday, either. But let us not dwell on myself; I have seen great improvement in Luxa since you arrived. That is most happy news." Nerissa observed with a ghostly smile that was slightly disturbing. Gregor was used to it by now, but he still slightly wished Nerissa was a little more… normal.

"Okay, well, I told Luxa that I would meet her after I took a bath so I guess I will see you later." Gregor started to walk away but an iron grasp clamped around his wrist, Nerissa had stopped him with more force than her disposition and emaciated form betrayed.

"Wait, Overlander. Hark. Beware, Gregor, for though one may seem to lead, often is the master a pawn in a much larger game. Also, when all seems hopeless, let the key to death open the door to life." Nerissa released Gregor's arm and glided away; her words left a chill creeping up his spine.

Disconcerted, he continued walking down the silent stone hallways until he arrived at Luxa's chamber. She was not back yet, so he stayed and pondered the possible meanings of Nerissa's words. He had nothing. So engrossed was Gregor in his musings, he failed to hear the elegant footsteps that sounded from Luxa's sandals against the cold floor; she tapped his shoulder, causing him to jump.

Her faced was amused for a moment, but when she saw Gregor's troubled expression, her own quickly mirrored it.

"What is amiss, Gregor?" Luxa asked, concern resonating in her voice.

"It's nothing, really. At least I don't think it is. Well, maybe. I don't know." Gregor responded. He wasn't really sure what he should do about Nerissa's words. He figured that asking her wouldn't help much; if she knew more she would tell him outright. Unlike Sandwich, her intent was not to antagonize him. Luxa looked at him doubtfully after this inadequate answer.

"Okay, well… here's what happened…" Gregor recounted the words that Nerissa had spoken to him as he returned from bathing and his lack of comprehension for them. Luxa seemed as confused and distressed by this happening as he himself was.

"I do not know what this signifies for our future, Gregor, but I am quite sure that it is nothing good." She communicated to him and grasped his hand. Gregor quietly agreed and released a sigh of frustration and helplessness against the force of destiny.

"We finally get a prophecy by Sandwich that doesn't lead us in fifty different circles and now Nerissa is making us anxious!" Gregor thought with some amusement. He must have spoken it, too, because Luxa laughed and placed her cheek on his shoulder for a moment. The couple severed their contact as they approached the High Hall.

Gregor and Luxa greeted the congregation and received salutations in kind; they were the last to arrive and took places near the end of the table together. Howard glared at them, probably angry with himself that he didn't think to separate the two today. Luxa smiled innocently at him and shifted her gaze to Vikus.

"I see that we are all present. Very well, let us feast and be merry before we begin today's exercises." Proclaimed the old man. He had stood to make the announcement and leaned heavily upon his cane as he resettled himself in his chair. Gregor felt a twinge of sympathy for him; Vikus had been so strong for his age a year and a half ago when Gregor had first descended into the strange world that was permanently entrenched in darkness.

He abandoned his worries for Vikus temporarily and commenced filling his ravenous stomach with a myriad of dishes and talking to Luxa and the others. His happy forgetfulness was not long to last, however. Luxa grasped him on the arm subtly to get his attention. He turned to face her.

"Gregor," she whispered seriously, "Nerissa has not spoken of her meeting with you this morning. I believe that we should remain likewise mute. Do you agree?"

"Yeah, we probably should." Gregor decided.

Luxa nodded to him and returned to her plate once more. Gregor worried about Nerissa's words; the meanings were so vague and he was sure he would have no idea what they meant until the situation arose. Just like good ol' Sandwich. Fantastic.

As everyone became content after finishing their meal and Ripred had emptied a large cauldron of shrimp and cream sauce, the talking abated and Vikus stood up again to lay out the plans for the rest of the day.

"As you all know, the "Prophecy of Power" calls for us to make this journey unseen by enemy gnawers. And so, I have arranged for someone to train you to do such and be unheard by keen, unwanted ears. Proceed to the arena for your tutoring. I will speak to you again when it is time for the evening repast." With that said, Vikus slowly limped his way towards the Council Room.

Everyone stayed seated for a moment, curious as to his words. Except, of course, for Ripred, who didn't seem curious at all. In fact, he was looking from face to face as if waiting for some type of reaction. Finally, after the better part of a minute, Howard stood.

"Come, let us be off. We do not want to keep this mysterious teacher waiting."

"Yes, mysterious indeed." Ripred said with a ratty grin. He laughed for a second then leapt from his chair and left without explanation. The group stared quizzically after him.

"Well, anyway, let's go." Gregor declared, interrupting everyone's curiosity about what Ripred found funny.

Gregor and Luxa mounted Aurora; Howard did the same on Nike. Temp decided that he would visit the "princess" and not accompany them to training; despite all the missions he had spent atop the fliers he was a roach and was uncomfortable in the air. His kind preferred cramped tunnels rather than the open expanse that flight offered, as such Gregor assumed the crawler could move quietly.

"So, who do you think this 'trainer' guy is?" Gregor questioned as the three teenagers soared through the air.

"I am unsure. There are none I know of in Regalia who would practice subtlety as an art nor many that know it in general terms." Luxa responded, her brow creasing in thought.

"I, too, do not know. There are a few shady figures at the fount but they are all locked away for various crimes. Perhaps one of them is to train us?" Howard offered.

"Maybe, I can see Vikus doing that if it's necessary but I kind of doubt it." Gregor sighed, resigning himself to never being able to figure out what Vikus wasn't going to tell him. Maybe one day Vikus would decide to fill him in on some of this stuff. The party proceeded in silence to the arena and, upon arriving, did not find anyone but Artemis waiting on the field. Gregor, Howard, and Luxa dismounted the bats and asked Artemis if she knew about the unknown teacher.

"I know as little or less as you. We will find out soon." So they waited. No one spoke and Gregor examined the springy layer of moss that coated the floor as he waited on something to happen. Suddenly, a voice cut through the oppressive stillness.

"Greetings, young queen and Warrior of Regalia. Greetings to you as well, one I do not know. I shall assume you are Howard. Hello to all of the fliers we have assembled here, as well." A strangely accented and rich voice interrupted their contemplations. Gregor turned to meet the sound; he had not heard anyone approach across the expanse of the field. Somehow the bats had not heard him either; he must have somehow evaded the moth warning system that was situated at all entrances to the underground coliseum.

Luxa spun around, hand on her sword. Howard did the same. They eyed the stranger warily. The man was dressing in a full set of armor crafted of inky black leather. A hooded cape was draped over his head and back. It was also black. His incredibly colorful array was topped off by black leather boots, gloves, and a long, thin blade that hung from his waist. In a black scabbard, of course. His sillhouette was very difficult to make out even in the relatively well lit (by Underland standards) cavern.

"Who are you?" Luxa inquired, her voice ringing with queenly authority.

"Names can be powerful things, young queen. You, however, have no power over me. Allow me to make that much clear now. If you must know, however, my name is Zanielm. Vikus has requested of me that you be trained blending with the shadows, not rejecting them as you people so prefer." Zanielm's deep voice was rough and quiet, yet it was very calm, like a slight breeze of wind whispering through a tranquil wood.

"I see," Luxa replied warily, "and will you accompany us on this mission?"

Zanielm's face, covered in shadows though it was, seemed to gain a half-smile that somewhat resembled Luxa's own.

"No, I will not. I see no benefit to myself in once again involving myself in the cares of the clashing races. It has been of no use to me in the past and I can not see it being so in the future."

Howard, who had been silent until now, spoke.

"How do we know that we can trust you? You certainly seem strange, wearing such dark clothing and training us in arts that should remain hidden."

"Vikus trusts me. That is all." Zanielm said calmly. Luxa looked like she wanted to say something about his response, but in the end she didn't. Gregor guessed that she knew better than to try and argue against the truth. Instead, she just sighed in a frustrated manner at Vikus's lack of confidence in her and in the others.

"Very well. Let us begin." Luxa ordered coldly.

For the next hours, they worked under Zanielm's supervision. He was a patient teacher and the work was not physically difficult, but that did not prevent it being hard to master. Oh, and then there was the fact that they had about eight or nine hours to learn this stuff. That always helps.

Zanielm taught them various tricks and techniques to quiet their footsteps; some of which they knew and some they didn't. The primary one was to bind their feet with spinner's silk as Ripred had ordered the party to do during the quest for the "Prophecy of Gray." He taught them tactics to make one's self as flat as possible against a wall to avoid detection and how to check around a corner without a chance of being seen yourself. He also taught the bats how to fly more quietly and, amazingly, how they could move along the ground without a huge amount of effort.

"The bats will actually be able to accompany us through the tunnels!" Gregor marveled at the man's knowledge. How could he figure that out when the bats themselves didn't know? He was strict but kind in his instruction. Gregor wondered who exactly this man was, and he was sure his comrades wondered the same question.

After many hours of instruction, Zanielm interrupted an exercise.

"Stop. We are finished. Not perfect, but one can hardly expect such. Remember these lessons. If what I hear of the prophecy is true, it will be quite… taxing to remain undetected. I would suggest covering yourselves in the grime that is found near Ripred's den."

Gregor's face soured as he heard the last comment and he saw Luxa and Howard show the same reaction. The stuff smelled like rotten eggs. Not only that, but how did he know where Ripred's den was? Did Ripred know about this guy, too? Questions, questions, and more questions! Gregor's head was reeling with them. He wasn't sure how much more unexplained occurrence he could stand.

"Man, this is getting confusing!" Gregor thought as he attempted to collect his scattered thoughts. Maybe if he had been like the Braniac instead of the Warrior he wouldn't have to try so hard to understand what was going on.

Zanielm had not removed his hood for the entire lesson and the three young adults never were able to see anything other than his mouth; the rest was covered in shadows cast by his hood. He watched them silently for a moment.

"I will take my leave now. I hope that you succeed in your mission. Farewell, Regalians. Farewell, Gregor the Overlander." Zanielm seemed to linger on the word 'Overlander' for slightly longer than the others. He quickly spun around and exited via one of the tunnels leading away from the arena. As he turned, Gregor thought he saw the dim torchlight reflected by one of the man's hidden eyes, in it contained a sky blue iris.

The man was gone before he could comment. Puzzled, he turned to Luxa and Howard.

"Well, he left in a hurry." Gregor said.

"Indeed. He seems not to enjoy company." Luxa responded dryly. Gregor laughed and turned towards the bats that waited for them to mount. The five discussed Zanielm as they left the arena. They didn't figure much out.

"So, did anyone else notice anything about his eyes?" Gregor inquired.

"I did not see his eyes." Luxa stated, giving Gregor an interested look. He could tell she was curious about the man, as much as she disliked that he seemed to ignore her authority.

"Nor did I. Did you see anything, Gregor?" Howard leaned forward while he asked, intrigued by the possibilities.

"Well I'm not really one hundred percent on this or anything, but I thought I might have seen that he had blue eyes. I'm probably wrong, though. Vikus said that there weren't any other Overlanders that survived the fall." He added in his thoughts, "but there's a lot that Vikus doesn't tell us."

"That would be interesting indeed." Howard observed, interrupting Gregor from his annoyance at Vikus.

They were silent as the bats practiced their new flight maneuver to stay the steady _thump_ sound of their wings. Gregor thought they did quite well; he heard them of course, but he was on their back. He figured that from the ground it'd be a lot harder to discern the noise.

The bats pulled down in to the High Hall and landed. Their clawed wingtips and feet clicked softly against the stone but they were otherwise silent in their descent. At that moment, Vikus and Ripred strode in to the room. They were talking quietly, Gregor thought he made out the word "Zanielm," but he wasn't sure. He realized that he never really was sure with Vikus, even though he still trusted what the aged diplomat _did_ tell him.

"Ah, here they are. Welcome back to the palace, all of you. What think you of your instruction?"

"It was quite a learning experience, Vikus." Luxa replied calmly. Gregor could tell she either wanted to yell at him or question him. He guessed it was the latter. Or maybe both.

"Yes, it was most educational." Howard mirrored.

"It was cool." Gregor said with a shrug. Vikus nodded at each of them in turn.

"Very well, then. You must all be fatigued from your lessons. I expect you are hungry." Each of them nodded eagerly. Everyone was starving; they had missed lunch in order to receive more knowledge from their still-mysterious, possibly Overlander, teacher. Vikus grinned broadly at their response.

"Very well then," Vikus paused and signaled two servants. Gregor recognized one of the names from earlier that morning. "Veria, fetch Nerissa, Hazard, and Gregor's sisters if you would. Kel, tell the cooks to send in the evening meal."

Everyone took a seat and soon all the Underlanders of importance, the Warrior, the Code-breaker, and the "princess," were seated. The food was brought in and the meal began silently. Unexpectedly, Ripred broke the calm.

"So, everyone, one of my sources tells me that Rupture has started delivering his orders in a complicated code that he has only shared with top generals in his army. You all know what this means, I trust?"

The table was silent as the grave. Even more silent, if possible, excluding that Boots started softly singing "Bat, bat."

"Do you mean to tell me that this rat, Rupture, plans to begin military action against Regalia?" Luxa demanded.

"I do indeed, _Your Highness_," Ripred growled grumpily, "and I hear also that he's organizing the rats already. I suggest we get this quest thing moving, and soon."

"Yes, it seems that our time to complete the Prophecy has diminished." Vikus announced with a worried expression. "I suggest we begin tomorrow."

Everyone murmured their assent. Lizzie stood.  
"Is it okay if I go get ready, then?" Everyone looked at Gregor.

"Not this time, Liz. I know you really want to come but Mom is upset enough with us just being down here. I can't risk you getting hurt, too." Gregor expected her to protest and get angry, but she just sat down with a hurt expression and the premature worry lines on her face stood clearly against her youthful face.

"I think the same for Hazard." Luxa sighed, her countenance was anguished at having to leave the boy she had adopted as her brother behind, but she new it was probably best.

"I understand." Was Hazard's only response. He looked sad, but he always had no trouble with speaking the truth.

The rest of the meal was quiet, and Gregor dismissed himself readily from the table with brief goodbyes to everyone. He wandered the halls of the palace for a while. For the first time he noticed that there were a lot of nibblers around; he guessed they had not all been moved from the palace to their home at The Fount yet. He decided he might as well start preparing for the journey.

He walked slowly to the museum and entered it quietly. He found a sturdy, dark green and black backpack that seemed to be in pretty good shape, and began to stuff flashlights and batteries in to it. He couldn't use them, but he knew the others could. Suddenly, a thought hit him.

"I'm the only one besides Ripred who can echolocate. In the tunnels, we are going to have to lead everyone since we can't turn flashlights on. Most of the tunnels except for maybe a few of them are going to be dark." He groaned in agitation; this was going to be tougher than he thought. And he wasn't expecting anything to be easy in the first place.

Gregor grabbed a lighter he found that still had some fluid in it and then left the room, guessing that he would go to bed. As he returned to his room, Nerissa's words again returned to his mind. And, again, he couldn't make heads or tails of them. Resigning himself to a long, confusing, and difficult journey, he returned to his room.

He was unprepared for the rat that leapt at him from the shadows, he only saw it as a blurry outline of burning silver in his mind; he deflected a deadly claw with a lightning fast swipe from his blade as he drew it from its sheath. His rager sensation hit full force and Gregor prepared his tired body to fight.

Wow, I got over four thousand words this time (About 4,216, to be exact.. Hurray! Also, I got the rest of the plot worked out so I think I will update it more often now. I got a nice plot twist planned out! Hehe. I think I am getting better; R&R!


	7. Departure

Hello, all. I was looking over my Prophecy and then my plot and there are a few quite minor changes I need to make to the Prophecy… I didn't think anyone would really notice if I just stuck it in chapter three or whatever. You might not even notice now without comparing the two – not much different. But, I wanted to; makes more sense this way. I hadn't worked out the plot fully when I wrote prophecy… fail. Oh, and on a side note… the "aroused" review made me laugh. I'm surprised I didn't catch that myself. That was funny… Moving on! Oh btw – Probably will have to change Chapter Three prophecy interpretation stuffs, I guess. So, either reread that or interpret this for yourself! Sorry 'bout the change, I think this'll make the plot more interesting though!

Hint: Pay special attention to word changes.

_The Prophecy of Power_

_Now that enemy's blood is spilled,_

_And the Warrior thought to be killed._

_Another threat rises, a new creature seeks power,_

_The whole of Underland he seeks to devour._

_Revive the Warrior, he fights again,_

_Without his help human lives shall end._

_A king who finds bright peace so dark,_

_Shall upon the Underland make his mark._

_War now threatens Regalia again,_

_And it's Regalia he wants to rend._

_Herald of a long-lost time_

_Dark Bane's conquest seeks to mime._

_Signified by death and rage,_

_Yet cunning, wise and ancient of age._

_Within rats' land grows discontent,_

_From his throne new gnawer king is sent._

_New allies brought the gnawer king,_

_And no more of peace shall Under sing._

_Take the Warrior, take his friends,_

_Bring him to the tunnels' ends._

_On silent feet they must go now,_

_And to no gnawer they must bow._

_To stop the killing, end his might,_

_Drain dark beast's kingly light._

_But do not be seen, make no fight_

_Until enemy's identity is in sight._

_To avoid savage war, end ancient past now soon_

_Or else dark future shall be sewn. _

Okay, so, that's that. On to the story it is, where I shall continue my epic cliffhanger of doom! And stuff.

Chapter Seven

Adrenaline pumped through Gregor's veins as he assumed his regular fighting stance; his vision broke into splintered fragments. The scattered pieces highlighted upon the neck, under the left foreleg, and the area of the rat's chest around its wicked heart. The creature snarled in frustration and rage that its ambush had failed; it obviously hoped that it could take the Warrior by surprise and thus slay him. Gregor was glad that he had kept his sword from training earlier in the day.

The rat's face was contorted into a sneer of contempt and hatred. It was crouched in a defensive position as its beady eyes flicked from Gregor's sword to his chest in an attempt to find an opening. Somewhere in his unconscious mind, Gregor's rager instincts pushed him onto the offensive. He lunged forward, his blade whistled through the air but came upon empty space as his mind registered that his target rolled sidewise to avoid the fatal blow.

The gnawer took this opportunity to jump at him with deadly claws raised; Gregor dodged away from the merciless scythes and drove his sword forward. This time, it made contact.

Gregor felt the resistance as the blade pierced the thick hide and drove through the tough sinew that separated cold metal from beating heart. The sword was pulled from his hand as the rat stumbled backwards, eyes gleaming with uncontained malice.

"Overlander, you will die yet. The _killers_ will not triumph in this coming conflict!" gasped the dying gnawer as its lifeblood drained quickly from its body. Through his echolocation, Gregor saw a growing pool of silver liquid spread across the ground.

With its last curse uttered, the rat's malevolent eyes glazed over and the outline of silver fire that was etched in to Gregor's mind went limp. He watched the corpse for a moment as if expecting it to raise itself using the power of pure spite and anger alone. With a slight sensation of unreality, as if all else had been obliterated from the Earth other than himself and his deceased foe, Gregor heard running footsteps in the hallway outside his bedroom. He figured he wouldn't be sleeping in it that night, anyway. Nor did he think he could.

Mareth, Luxa, and a woman Gregor recognized as Perdita rushed in to the room looking like they expected a brawl. All three bore lit torches and unsheathed blades; they stopped when their eyes reached the impaled rat lying lifelessly upon the icy stone that was growing lukewarm from the hot, gushing blood. Through the fog of his exhaustion Gregor briefly marveled that Mareth had managed to keep up with Perdita and Luxa. The room was silent as Underlander and Overlander alike stared at the cadaver; a sense of impending doom hung over them both. Between the assassination attempt and Rupture's military actions, the hope of any positive or peaceful outcome seemed slim or nonexistent.

Luxa walked over to Gregor and hugged him, placing her forehead on his chest. For now, at least, she did not care what others thought. Gregor doubted that Mareth or Perdita really cared about teenage romance at the moment, no matter who it was between; they were high ranking commanders in Regalia's army and had much bigger things to worry about right now. Mareth already knew, anyway.

Mareth stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"I shall send for the body to be disposed of in the waterway. Gregor, I suppose you do not wish to sleep in this area, assuming that you rest at all tonight. I would advise you try, as the quest draws so near. Would you arrange for him to be sheltered, Luxa? Perdita and I shall make the official arrangements for the military and social implications of this attack; you need your strength for the coming journey and have not the vitality to spare."

Luxa nodded gratefully at him and, taking Gregor by the hand, led him away from the grim scene. The two were quiet as they walked through the solemn stone hallways of the Regalian palace. Finally, though his mood black, Gregor decided that he must sate his curiosity.

"So, how'd you guys figure out I was fighting that rat?" he inquired.

"A passing servant heard the sounds of conflict and, being unarmed himself, quickly fetched Perdita. I, who was at the time discussing matters of war with she and Mareth, came along. Mareth has learned to use his prosthetic leg quite well now. I am surprised he managed to keep up with us."

Gregor nodded in agreement. He wasn't really in the mood to talk now. He was tired, the adrenaline rush and rager senses had abandoned him and the powerful energy that had coursed through his body a few minutes ago was gone. It left his body utterly desolate of strength; he was fatigued from his fight, from the day's events, from everything that had happened since he had returned to the Underland.

Yet, despite all the terrible things that had occurred during this period, he was still happier here than he had been in the five months he was absent from the Underland. Here, he was not constrained to silence and solitude due to his rager nature and scars. Oh, and then there was the fact that having fought in wars and being away from everything he knew and loved, forced to live in ignorance of whether the people closest to him were alive or dead, made all the typical school gossips seem only slightly less significant.

Through his haze of fatigue he vaguely realized that he was within Luxa's chambers and was being led to a spare bedroom that was off to the side of the main room that he was familiar with. Giving Luxa a final, grateful smile the collapsed onto the soft mattress and, not bothering to pull the sheets around himself, sank into the wonderful reprieve of oblivion.

When he awoke, Gregor almost expected the sun's bright rays to stream in through the window and disentangle him from his sleepy, morning fog. Of course, there was no sun here.

"Come to think of it," Gregor thought gloomily, "I may never get to see the sun again. Not the sun, the moon, the stars, New York…" Gregor bolted upright, his sore muscles protesting, and pushed the depressing speculations about the future from his mind.

"On the bright side, I didn't have any nightmares last night."

His echolocation displayed the room around him in shifting images of white-silver. It was nothing special; just a guest room that could be used to house royal guests or family. He briefly wondered if this was where Henry used to stay, but did not dwell on it for long. He probably shouldn't ask Luxa about that, anyway. Gregor heaved himself up from bed, his limbs heavy both from yesterday's physical exercises and his own consciousness still being murky from sleep.

As he exited the room, he came in to the familiar fire-lit room that belonged to Luxa. She was sitting on the couch that they had been together upon what seemed like an eternity ago, her angelic features highlighted by the ruddy light of the flickering blaze in front of her. When she heard him enter, Luxa raised her amethyst eyes and her face expressed a sorrowful, but genuine, smile.

"Good morning, Gregor. I hope you slept well. I am deeply sorry for your ordeal of last night. I do not know how that gnawer managed to evade our guards. Other than Ripred's movements, such a thing is most singular."

"It's alright," Gregor shrugged, partially to answer Luxa's statement and partially to remove the remnants of sleep that still clung obstinately to him. "It isn't your fault. That rat was probably, like, specially trained or something. I guess it's a good thing Ripred drilled echolocation in to my head, huh?" In the back of his mind, Gregor remembered telling Ripred that he did not want the 'gift' of being a rager. How things changed...

Luxa laughed softly and gazed into the fire for a few moments. She sighed and shook her head, obviously not wanting the day to continue along its predetermined course. The quest would begin today and its fellowship would venture away from the comfortable rooms and soft beds to sleep upon cold rock and warm themselves in the orange-yellow illumination of bonfires. That is, when the fires could actually be made. Gregor guessed that there wouldn't be much cooked food, the gnawers would detect the scent and see the glow cast by the dancing flames.

Gregor padded over to the couch and dramatically collapsed upon a cushion beside Luxa. She grinned at him and gave him a playful push. For the briefest moment in a never-ending cycle of prophesized horrors, Gregor truly felt like he was a kid again. But, of course, such moments were never long to last in his hectic life.

"Luxa? Gregor? Are you present?" Vikus's voice drifted in from the hallway outside. Luxa frowned in annoyance.

"Why must all our nice moments be interrupted at the most inopportune times? Honestly..." Luxa muttered, but stood and responded courteously enough to Vikus. Gregor could tell, though, she wanted nothing more at the moment than to tell him to bugger off.

"That is well. As you both must know, the quest begins today. We shall have one last meeting before you depart; adjourn to the High Hall after you dress yourselves in fresh garments and cleanse your bodies." Luxa and Gregor heard the steady clacking as Vikus used his cane to transport himself away, probably to the Council Room.

The two lingered on the couch for a couple of minutes, wishing to avoid the day's plans, before leaving Luxa's chambers and parting paths to prepare themselves for the hours of weary travel ahead. Gregor was relieved that he did not run into Nerissa on his trip to the bathroom; he wasn't sure how many more vague divinations of events yet to pass that he could handle. He quickly readied himself and tried to make his unruly hair presentable after taking a pretty short bath. He quickly gave up on taming his muddy brown locks and donned some dark green, silken clothes that reminded him of one of groves of trees in Central Park.

After all of Gregor's attire was in place, he proceeded out of the warm, misty bathroom and walked briskly towards the High Hall to meet Vikus, Ripred, and everyone else. The palace halls were deserted and gave Gregor an ominous feeling; he dreaded the upcoming quest. What if something happened to Luxa? Or Howard? Or... No, nothing would happen to Ripred. Somehow, he was pretty sure about that.

It did not take long until Gregor arrived at his destination. Not everyone was yet gathered around the table, but his sisters were there and he gladly took a place beside them. He had barely gotten to spend time with Lizzie or Boots since he had descended into the Underland.

Gregor teased Boots and played with her for a little while; he then chatted with Lizzie about what she'd been up to. Luxa joined them, followed shortly afterwards by Howard. Luxa quickly took a seat to Gregor's left and Howard sat across from the two in order to keep an eye on them. Luxa gave Howard an annoyed glance causing a few giggles from Lizzie and Gregor. Gregor briefly wondered if Liz had figured out about the two, yet. He wouldn't be amazed if she had. Lizzie was a pretty smart girl.

After everyone had gathered, the talking died down slightly and Vikus gave a short speech summarizing the group's mission, what the new Council had decided for travel plans, and other various bits of information. The only surprising part came at the end.

"... and, also, we have a gift for Gregor so that he may hopefully succeed in defeating this new foe. Vera, would you please bring our present?" Vikus announced. The servant named Vera quickly brought to the old man a long object swathed in silken cloth. Gregor's curiosity was aroused. It looked kind of like a sword. He was right.

"We have rebuilt the broken pieces of Sandwich's blade, Gregor, thus reviving the Warrior. In the event that was what was meant by the Prophecy was you were 'killed' by breaking the blade and you live once more in its recreation." Vikus explained as he unwrapped the cloth from around the weapon. It was as elegant as ever and Gregor marveled at the perfect weapon before him. The metal had been forged for the sole purpose of ending lives; the perfect instrument for the Warrior.

Gregor took the bejeweled hilt that Vikus offered and was again surprised by how well the wire-wrapped handle fit his grip. He unsheathed the blade and gave it a few test swings. Perfect.

"Wow, you guys did a really good job putting it back together. Sorry that I, uh, broke it." Gregor offered. Vikus just smiled and inclined his head.

"It is as well, Gregor. It was your destiny to shatter the blade and for it to be remade. All is as it was predicted." Nerissa said quietly. Gregor nodded. He didn't expect to see his sword again, but he was glad he had it. It made every other blade in Regalia, except for perhaps Solovet's dagger, seem quite inferior. He wondered where that particular dagger had ended up.

"Here is your other weapon, Gregor. We recovered it from the caverns where you dropped it during your battle with the Bane." Mareth said handing him aforesaid dagger. He guessed Vikus did not present it to him because of the memories that haunted him about Solovet; it brought back his own terrible memories of dropping it and clenching both hands around the hilt of the same sword he now held and driving it through the Bane's monstrous heart. He thanked Mareth in a hushed voice and accepted the stiletto. The glinting steel brought back yet more memories of Solovet's ambush and everyone was temporarily silent as they relived the same experiences.

Finally Vikus cleared his throat and proceeded.

"Well, our time grows short if we wish to stop this great threat. Those designated to fulfill this prophecy must now take their leave. Fly you high, all of you." There were a lot of sorrowful goodbyes and hugs and anxiety about what lay ahead of them and generally everyone exchanged parting words as packs full of food were carried to the tables. Swords were distributed amongst the company, excluding Gregor, and some leather armor was handed out. Chain mail and plate armor would generate too much noise and were too heavy for the fliers to carry over long distances along with the food, water, and passengers.

The mood became grimmer as Luxa noted a scout carrying lists of code that the rats had apparently begun using. Gregor was comforted that Lizzie would be working on cracking it in Regalia and not making the dangerous journey with him.

Everyone bore backpacks filled with supplies and was equipped with the flashlights found by Gregor in the museum. Luxa and Gregor mounted Aurora (Much to Howard's discontent); Howard and Temp, Nike; Ripred, Artemis. The supplies were dispersed evenly between the three, but Aurora and Nike carried slightly more due to Ripred's bulk. He should cut down on the shrimp and cream sauce.

"No skimping on the cream, indeed." Gregor thought with amusement, remembering when the rat had brought Twitchtip to Regalia during the 'Prophecy of Bane.' Searing pain stabbed his heart as he remembered Twitchtip; the only rat who had showed him heartfelt kindness, who had helped save Boots and Luxa, and who had only died during the War of Time five months previous.

The final farewells were gravely spoken and the bats began their long flight southward to the rat tunnels. The comforting glow of city lights soon melded into the uniform blackness that seemed to permeate through the air around Gregor and the others.

The inky atmosphere and dismal silence weighed down on everyone; it hunched shoulders and contorted features into dismal frowns. The journey through the dark was pretty much unvarying; they occasionally stopped to drink from streams to save their stored water and took a break for the bats to rest and eat around noon. At least, Gregor guessed it was noon. It was a little bit hard to tell with no watch and no sun.

In any case, the journey continued monotonously on. Gregor was told it would take about two days at the most to reach the outer areas of the rats' lands; they would then have to be more careful with their movements. Then would their true challenge begin.

The rest of the day thus crawled slowly by. There wasn't much talking throughout the entire stretch of time; everyone's concern emanated from them and did not need verbal communication. They had all been together on a few such maddening ventures, except for Artemis, who was a newcomer in the Sandwich's deadly games. When the party stopped for the evening, they used their distance from the rats' land to their advantage and ate a warm, cooked meal. Luxa and Howard had long since overcome their dislike of crawlers and Temp sat with them. He was obviously sad about Boots' absence, though, and spoke less than the rest of them.

The mood lightened somewhat after eating and Gregor decided that he would get to know Artemis better. He took a seat by the bat.

"So, Artemis, what's up?"

"I believe you well know what is 'up,' Overlander. I am here for the same reason you are." Artemis joked. Gregor laughed and grinned at her. She was a pretty nice flier, and despite her being a lot happier than Ares he still preferred his old black bat. He was pretty sure that he remembered Artemis being the Greek goddess of the hunt, kind of ironic since the whole purpose of this quest was to hunt down a particularly dillusional rat.

Gregor spoke to Artemis for probably about half an hour before the bat excused herself to sleep with the other two members of her race. The Warrior returned to the queen and sat quietly beside her and the two just watched the crackling flames of their cooking fire and the shifting shadows cast upon the ground around them.

"This is going to be tough, huh?" Gregor said finally, dethroning the silence that had until previously reigned unopposed.

"Yes, it will not be simple." Luxa agreed, then added "But it is never simple with us, is it? Fate seems to hold for us a special place in its heart."

"Mhm, I don't think I'd mind being less thought of. But, of course, if I hadn't come down here and been the Warrior and all that stuff I probably never would have met you." Gregor was vaguely aware that Howard was glaring at him. Gregor didn't care anymore; he knew that he just might die on this quest and he wasn't going to pander to Howard's beliefs when he and Luxa loved each other and one of them may not be around much longer.

"Yes, and for that reason I am very glad you are. I do not think destiny could have chosen a better warrior." Luxa replied with one of her half-smiles.

Gregor eventually dozed off leaning against a full backpack with Luxa's head resting on his shoulder, happy that he had finally conquered the pestilence to his and Luxa's relationship that had been Howard's presence.

I totally meant to update this on Friday night or Saturday morning but I got interrupted by something every time I tried to sit down and write! Ugh, parents are so maddening. Review please!

.


	8. Encounter

Hey guys, I updated last weekend but not sure if many people saw it because I used replace to get rid of the author's note rather than deleting / adding so it didn't get pushed up on the list of recently updated stuffs. Anyways… Um, not much other to say that that, I don't think. So, without further ado, to chapter eight it is. Read it, review it.

Chapter Eight

When Gregor stirred in what was the Underland version of early morning, he noticed that most of his companions were still asleep. He carefully extricated himself from beneath Luxa and walked over to the supplies to check what food the group could use for breakfast. Yawning loudly, he removed a loaf of bread, some cheese, an unfamiliar type of meat, and began to saw through the soft foodstuffs with a serrated knife he found packed in with the loaf. Gregor managed to slice out enough materials to craft a lumpy sandwich for everyone. He removed a plate from a different bag and set the morning rations upon it.

Gregor decided that he would wait to eat until everyone had awoken. So, he sat and thought about the prophecy.

"Well, Rupture isn't like, the Bane or anything. So, if he's not a thirteen foot monster who should be in a mental institution, killing him should be cake compared to taking out that other monster. Even though I don't have…" Gregor's thoughts paused for a moment, before he whispered out, "Ares" so softly that he could barely heard it himself.

Oh man, why couldn't Ares have lived? He was going to have to hunt down another insane rat without the help of his bond. The flier who was number one on his list of travelling companions when he was going to fight. He'd been through four of the prophecies bonded to Ares; now was no time for him to be facing the next challenge alone. But, of course, he wasn't really alone. He had Luxa and Howard. He had Aurora, Nike, Artemis and Temp. But, then again, who knows what good old Sandwich had in mind? He might have to fight this gnawer by himself.

Gregor was severed from his reverie by a nearby scuffle of movement. Instinctively, his hand flew to the hilt of Sandwich's blade, fingers prepared to bring the razor edge down upon whatever adversary might challenge him. But that was just instinct.

He relaxed his grip as he turned to see Howard standing up and stretching his stiff limbs in the near darkness.

"Morning, Howard." Gregor said with a smile.

"Good morrow, Overlander." Howard replied with a slight frown. Great, what now? The Overlander combined with the frown. That wasn't usually a good sign. The young physician continued, "I would like to speak to you in private for a moment. Will you come?"

"Yeah, of course. What about?" Gregor was pretty sure he knew what it was about. He remembered Howard glaring at him last night. He was totally over Howard's opinions on his and Luxa's relationship, though. It didn't matter to him anymore. Gregor followed Howard about twenty feet away from the main camp before he would talk.

"Well, Gregor," Howard began in a hushed tone, taking a deep breath. "I believe that you and my cousin are getting along far too nicely, you understand? Perhaps you do feel some 'love' for one another, but this cannot last. You will eventually return to the Overland and leave her here, broken. It is best that you end your relationship now and save yourself some suffering. Save her from suffering. Whichever shall convince you to act, but do not dwell on a lost suit. You could not remain here to marry her!"

Save her from suffering? Wrong word choice. Now he was going to get it.

"Okay, Howard. Listen up. I'm only going to tell you this once," Gregor began. He was pretty annoyed now. Quite angry, in fact. It was taking most of his energy not to explode on Howard, but even so he tried to keep his voice in check. "Luxa and I _do_ love each other and we are _not_ suffering. In fact, quite the opposite. We're probably a lot happier than you are. All in all, I'm getting pretty ticked off about how all you people are just thinking this is some childish little thing and we are both stupid and can't figure out what's going on."

"We do not think you are stupid, Gregor. It is just-"

"It's just that you think we can't see where our decisions will lead us? That we are two totally different people? That I'm from the Overland and she's the queen of Regalia?? We _do_ know, Howard. I know there are girls in the Overland and that it would make things easier on me if I liked one of them. But, the fact is, I don't. I love Luxa. And you and everyone like you are just going to have to accept that because it's not going to change any time soon, okay?!" Gregor was practically screaming now, despite his best attempts to restrain his temper. Or maybe it wasn't his best; maybe he wanted to yell at Howard and drill the aforesaid message into his head. Gregor wasn't really sure. In any case, everyone was awake now. The only sound was Ripred trying to suppress hysteric laughter.

Howard was silent and his eyes were downcast. He sighed in frustration.

"This is... very well, then. I will leave you two to your own devices." Howard turned away from Gregor, his expression sorrowful, and walked over to Nike. He sat by her, brooding. Gregor wasn't sure if Howard was sad because his feelings had been hurt or because he had failed to convince Gregor, but frankly the Warrior didn't care right now.

As he walked away, Gregor heard Ripred say, "You tell'em, boy! Ragers don't take orders from anyone!" and continue laughing.

Gregor grabbed a Sandwich from the pile and stalked hotly away from the camp. He sat in isolation for a minmute before he was approached by Luxa. She had taken a sandwich of her own and was holding it in her hand. She sat down. Gregor took an enormous bite out of his sandwich and chewed furiously in an attempt not to say anything stupid. It also helped that he was ravenously hungry.

"Howard tried to talk to you about us, did he not?" Luxa asked softly, consuming a small bite of her own. Gregor nodded stiffly and swallowed. Luxa sighed. "I do not wish to press you for information, but what… what happened exactly?"

"He told me what he thought, and I told him the truth. Whatever he thinks about us, Luxa, it doesn't matter anymore. We are who we are. We don't need Howard's permission to care about each other." Gregor's voice grew steadily quieter as his statement drew to a close.

"Yes, we do not. It is our own choice to make, and I believe it to be a good one." So, they left it at that. Luxa passed out meals to the rest of the company and then returned to sit by Gregor who, by this point, felt a little bit better.

The breakfast was completely silent; no one spoke or tried to start a conversation. Artemis did not seem to fully understand what had happened, but it wasn't hard to gather the clues. She was probably being filled in by the other bats in their inaudible, high pitched shrieking of a language.

After everyone had finished the mediocre meal and drank some water to quench their thirst, the groups once again mounted the bats and departed their campsite. The flight was consistently uneventful. The inky darkness pressed ominously in around them. Gregor could barely stand the oppressive blackness, but dared not shatter the binding silence.

When the group stopped for lunch, he was offered some reprieve by the fact that everyone seemed relieved to be on the ground and finally talked some. No one mentioned the morning's argument. Gregor felt pretty sure that Ripred wanted to bring it up just to watch what it would cause, but for some reason the rat held his tongue. One thing you had to give to Ripred was that he seemed to know when not to be a complete and utter annoyance and when he could get away with it.

Today, when Gregor and Luxa sat together, Howard made no note of it and merely looked away with an unreadable expression.

"He still isn't ready to accept us." Gregor thought with a sigh. At least he had stopped pestering the two. But what about when they returned to Regalia? Would the people there be content with them? Did they want the Warrior of prophecy fraternizing with their queen? He didn't have any answers. Just like usual.

The lunch consisted of some cake packed from Regalia and some of the green stuff that Gregor remembered from his first visit. He wished he had some warm food, but his current diet far exceeded the raw fish and other slimy seafood that he was forced to consume during the venture across the waterway when he first went to kill the Bane. The party was reluctant to resume the quest and reach whatever fate lurked ahead of them in the unsettling shadows. However, it was inevitable. Ripred barked a few orders and everything was packed and the Underlanders and Overlander prepared to leave.

"I might as well be an Underlander by now. I don't belong upstairs anymore." Gregor thought with a hint of sadness, as if he had left part of his identity behind in that realization.

Gregor was frustrated with how uniform the entire journey was. Usually there was something, either good or ill, that happened to them and confirmed the flow of events. It was like the calm before the storm. He soon desperately wished that nothing had happened at all.

It was not far into their flight that the bats sharply angled their heads toward a particular area of darkness far to the left. Gregor's echolocation didn't reach that far, so he didn't know what happened until he heard it. And when he did, the silvery image branded itself onto his cerebrum.

A loud, thundering echo seemed to shake the air. Underlying it was the sound of constant scratching and scraping and rough voices followed by ugly laughter. The bats quickly tilted away from the scene before the horde of gnawers was able to distinguish the group's scent. Luxa's eyes could not breach the wall of darkness, of course, but she recognized the sound; Howard did, too. She released a gasp of surprise.

"The army of gnawers marches! We must inform Regalia!"

"We cannot, Luxa. All of us here are required for the quest. Our best hope is to continue onwards." Ripred ordered solemnly. He seemed worried about the impending attack upon Regalia as well.

"But they can not be caught by surprise!" Luxa argued.

"They won't, Luxa. Lizzie and Daedalus and those guys are working on that code and Ripred told Vikus before we left that Rupture would be attacking Regalia so they already know the rats are coming. They'll be prepared, don't worry." Gregor said soothingly.

He was surprised he was able to do that; he usually couldn't think of anything to say when people were upset. Luxa calmed down upon hearing his words, though.

"You are right, Gregor. We must continue. This brings but new haste to our mission."

And so they flew on. The bats wings beat faster than before; Gregor could hear their heavy breathing as they pumped the leathery lengths at tremendous speeds. He almost heard the tendons popping under the extreme exertion. It was a race for time now. And it was a race that every one of them refused to lose.

Froth gathered at the corners of the fliers' mouths and their breathing was more labored than before. Their wings continued to flap, but with decreasing speed.  
"We draw near the tunnels." Aurora gasped from underneath Gregor. A resounding, relieved sigh was emitted from all three bats and they began spiraling lazily downward. As soon as everyone was on the ground, the bats collapsed instantly.

"We must sleep. You should rest also. Awake us…" Nike managed to get out before her exhaustion overtook her and her chest began to rise and fall with the steady rhythm of sleep. Ripred surprised everybody by offering to take the first watch.

Everyone else tried to relax enough to drift into the unconscious, but few truly succeeded and those who did were restless for the duration of their slumber. The watch changed a couple of times before Ripred suddenly demanded that the fliers be awoken and that the trip continue as planned. With the rat armies nearing Regalia, no one argued with him.

The bats still looked weary but they had regained strength enough to fly. The quest-goers soon reached the northernmost tip of the gnawer land after roughly an hour of flight. The bats took to gliding in order to avoid the continuous drum of their wings. No rats could be alerted to the presence of an enemy species. They landed near an isolated cave that was separated from the other tunnels.

"This will be our entry point. I think you all know this place, Artemis excluded." No one needed to look inside; they recognized it from the putrid stench of rot and decay that hung over the tunnel.

"Well then, in you go." Ripred said with a wicked grin. Sometimes Gregor thought that the rat enjoyed tormenting him. Probably his bond Luxa, too.

"Must we, Ripred?" Luxa groaned. She wasn't the type to complain, but no one wanted to enter the foul smelling place.

The gnawer's toothy smile broadened. "Yes, in fact. We must." So much for bonds; Gregor thought that Luxa might just run Ripred through with any pointy object that was handy if he wasn't needed to navigate.

And so the humans, fliers, and roach entered the slime-filled, muck covered tunnel that would disguise their scent to the rats' noses. Gregor fervently wished that the gnawers' domain would smell like something other than a bag of liquidated rotten eggs that had spent a vacation fermenting under the summer sun.

After sufficiently coating their foreign smells with the sickly scent that lingered over the entire cavern, they finally exited it into a more open area. All of them stopped to take in great, deep gasps of the fresh air. Well, as fresh as underground air could be.

"Now we will begin our task," Ripred whispered, "there may be rats in this area. I don't know. Their numbers will be less because the active army is gone but you can never be too sure. I don't think they know about the prophecy so they aren't expecting us but we will need to be _careful_. That means not running in with a sword over your head. You will need a _plan_; something you pups are not particularly adept at forming. You've all got brains, use them!"

Thus chastised, or perhaps insulted, or a mixture of the two, everyone walked subtly on. When a boot struck a stray pebble, that boot's owner received a scolding glare from everyone and the party moved on. The rate of progress was painfully slow, and it was only elongated by the tension that made Gregor feel like he was about to burst with contained anxiety.

Several times a rat would be heard scuffling lazily by in a nearby tunnel and all the humans had to suppress the instinctual desire to whip out their swords for self defense. If they did, all would be lost. The metallic scraping of the blade against its sheathe would alert every nearby rat to the assassins' presence.

The tunnels seemed an endless maze of dead ends, winding corridors, and fake passages to Gregor. For one of only a few times, he was quite glad that Ripred was around.

"I feel like I'm back at the labyrinth." Gregor whispered as quietly as he could to Luxa. She nodded, her face tightening slightly at the painful memories of Aurora's injured wing and Twitchtip's sacrifice. Ripred quickly hushed him.

They almost turned into a large chamber with hallways twisting out if it in separate directions before Ripred jumped backward quickly and crouched. Everyone stopped, worried. A voice floated into the tunnel from the central room.

"Yes, but there is no way the humans could defeat the entire force while they are still weak from the War of Time; they will be annihilated." The voice was arrogant and commanding, it also held a contempt for the world and a feeling of superiority to it.

"I realize the plan, General Maimtail, but what if the human resistance is stronger than we thought? They may call that accursed Overlander back to assist them!" The second voice was angry and seemed to have some authority to it, but he was obviously inferior to the first rat, General Maimtail.

"I have already considered that, sergeant. I suggest you return to your post; after many hours of consideration I do not believe that any one soldier in any war will change the outcome so drastically. Let them bring their _Warrior_. He shall meet the same fate as the rest of the killers. Their race is lower than the crawlers!"

Cruel laughter rippled across the room.

"Yes, I believe you are correct, general. I will resume my guard of King Rupture. Run like the river, Maimtail." The patter of claw against stone signified the sergeant rat's exit. Gregor almost thought the talking was over, until he heard Maimtail again.

"He must be talking to himself." Gregor realized after a moment.

"Yes, let them bring the Overlander. Ha! Our… _reinforcements_… will arrive here shortly. When they reach Regalia, the humans will have no mercy. They will all die, cornered inside their walls of stone. They will be sundered by tooth and claw!" The rat cackled maniacally as he padded out of one of the divergent tunnels.

"What do you suppose all that rubbish meant? We know Rupture is guarded, anyway. The coward, I never had any guards." Ripred muttered to no one in particular. "Nothing good will come of that talk, I'll wager. Come, let's keep moving." He continued without waiting for any responses.

"This tunnel. This leads to the throne room on its opposite end. As our friend said, the _king_ will be defended. Watch yourselves." Ripred announced quietly as he stepped in front of a larger tunnel. The group started to turn the corner and were met by a large rat who looked at them with some amusement.

"Well, it's about time you got here. I was starting to think you wouldn't come."

And so ends chapter eight. I'll hopefully update soon but it kinda depends on some life stuff that may or may not happen this weekend. G'bye until later. Review!


	9. Imprisonment

Well, it's been a while since my last update; I had fall break off school and spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and gaming. I apologize for the wait, but judging by the amount of reviews only one or two people cared anyways! Sorry if it's not very good; I'm rusty from not writing anything in almost two weeks. Now it's time to get some of the action going…

Chapter Nine

"Oh no… They found us…" Gregor gasped out with a sinking feeling of dread. He gritted his teeth and started to pull out his sword; then something clicked in the back of his head. The rat looked like it was trying to keep itself from going into hysterics at the group's expression of horror. But not just any rat, Gregor quickly realized. It was Lapblood! Other than Ripred, no one seemed to have recognized her identity yet.

"Stop, guys! It's Lapblood!" Gregor whispered happily. The gnawer was easily number one or two on Gregor's list of rats. Twitchtip and Ripred were the only others on that list, really, and Twitchtip had died. Then there was the fact that Gregor was never really sure how much he could trust Ripred. The hands that were reaching for swords faltered and each face took on an expression of surprise, relief, and finally happiness. Ripred walked lazily forward to greet her in his usual sarcastic manner.

"Hello there, Lapblood. What a pleasure to see you again. I must say that I'm quite relieved you aren't here to slit our throats. Not that you'd succeed, of course." Ripred drawled.

"Perhaps I would not, Ripred, but there are many gnawers in Rupture's chamber that need only be alerted of your presence. I don't think you could take all of them, even with your rager abilities." Lapblood responded with a slight smile.

"Ah, but what about two ragers; one on a flier, and a few other skilled fighters? What then?" Ripred retorted.

"Then, perhaps, I-"

"Ahem, I'm glad you two are happy to see each other, but we really must continue… We do not have the time to spare on idle chat." Luxa interrupted in a slightly annoyed tone. The two rats looked at each other and then at Luxa.

"I most certainly am _not_ glad to see Lapblood. I was simply happy to know that our mission is not failed and we're not all going to die." Ripred muttered, glancing away. Lapblood looked equally annoyed at his response but left it at that. After the momentary awkwardness had passed, Ripred asked Lapblood a few questions about the status of the rats in the tunnels, how many guards Rupture had, and tried to learn various tidbits of information regarding the prophecy or quest.

"Alright, then. We've got thirty guards to deal with, and more stationed as patrols around the tunnels. We don't know who this mysterious ally of the rats is, but of course we'll have to worry about them as well. Let's get moving."

Lapblood joined the party and they crept slowly down the deserted hallway that led to Rupture's throne room. She stopped them at a bend in the tunnel after fifteen minutes of agonizingly slow and anxious travel.

"Around this curve we will find the entrance to Rupture's throne… Stay sharp; there will be guards," she began in such a hushed voice that Gregor could barely make out the words, "Are you all ready?" After a brief moment of hesitation, everyone gave the affirmative. Lapblood nodded and snuck around the corner and through the tunnel, staying very close to the wall. Her nose twitched furiously as she tried to detect something.

There were two guards at the end of the passageway; they had not spotted the group of outsiders yet because of their disguised scent and movement in the shadows. Someone kicked a pebble.

The rats' heads both shot up and their ugly faces contorted into snarls.

"Did you hear that, Clawrend?" One asked quietly, his eyes darting across the heavy blackness that covered most of the tunnel. His eyes seemed to linger on the corner behind which everyone but Lapblood hid.

"Yes, Greyfang, I did. Do you suppose it might be the messenger we've been waiting on?" Clawrend asked casually.

"I think so, Clawrend. Come on out if you're there, Lapblood."

Everyone but Lapblood froze in place. She walked calmly out and greeted each of the rats kindly enough.

"What's going on? I thought they couldn't see us?" Gregor wondered dazedly. He was so worried about this entire thing he almost felt sick.

"Do you have the message for the king that the commander from our front lines sent? We need that information quickly to fine tune our battle strategy with the bur- Our allies."

"Of course I have it. Why do you think I came here?" Lapblood inquired with a disarming smile. The two rats laughed and agreed that she really had no other reason to be at the king's chambers.

"Except perhaps one reason…" Lapblood started. She didn't finish her sentence; her tail whipped around and smashed Clawrend in his skull while the deadly claws on her forelegs made short work of Greyfang. She wiped the blood from her claws on the rats' fur and motioned for her companions to come forward. Most of them were stunned by the sudden act of violence.

"Well done, Lapblood. Not even I expected that. Do you think you could manage taking care of all the guards that way?" Ripred said with a ratty grin.

"I'm afraid not, Ripred. Perhaps you could run in and scare them all off with your peacemaking abilities?" The scarred rat growled in annoyance but let the comment pass without too much opposition, merely mumbling something that Gregor guessed was about how stupid Sandiwch's prophecies were.

"I was scared there for a minute, Lapblood." Gregor admitted. Luxa and Howard both agreed with him.

"Come, now. You didn't think I'd betray you so easily, Warrior? As much as I dislike saying it; I am in your debt for giving me and, through me, my pups time in the jungle."

Gregor didn't respond, but instead found himself surprised at the realization that Lapblood might have died if he hadn't helped her back during the quest for the "Prophecy of Blood." He was glad that he'd earned Lapblood's trust and could really consider her an ally. Gregor had guessed that she considered her debt paid after helping defeat the Bane's armies in the War of Time.

"Enough talk; we must proceed." Ripred ordered. Ripred and Lapblood moved the rat bodies into a small crevice in the wall, but were unable to hide the blood that stained the rock below them.

"Some gnawer will smell that blood soon. We have to go as quickly as we can."

It wasn't long until the group reached the entrance to a huge, circular cavern in the middle of which sat a lumpy throne. Upon it sat a large, black rat with a damaged, manmade silver crown resting upon his head.

"That's him!" Gregor hissed quietly. He probably shouldn't have said anything, but it was too late now. No rats heard him, anyway. Luxa squeezed his hand, likely thinking about the huge scars he bore from his last encounter with a mentally unstable rat.

Ripred retreated behind the wall from which they were viewing the main chamber from and looked at the face of each person, bat, roach, or otherwise present. The humans looked worried about Regalia, the bats were concerned about their bonds or, in Artemis' case, her friends. Temp looked worried about everything; he couldn't fight and there was no princess for him to protect.

"What's our plan?" asked the big, battle-scarred rat. "If we go by what Lapblood said there's about thirty rats in there, then between me, our almighty _warrior_, the pampered queen and the medicine man, we can handle most of them. Now that Lapblood is here, too, we stand a rather good chance. I'm concerned about whatever allies that begin with 'bur' the rats might have holed up in there, though."

Everyone was used to Ripred's insults, so they looked past them and thought about their plan of action. Now wasn't the time for rebuttle, anyway.

"Excuse me, Ripred. Luxa and I… we have no light… It will be difficult for us to participate in any battle. We only brought a few torches because of the nature of this mission and some were expired during our camping." Howard stated. Gregor wasn't sure, but he was pretty sure Luxa was blushing next to him.

"I brought flashlights and a lighter." Gregor said. He removed the flashlights from his backpack and passed them out to Luxa and Howard. He got one out for himself, too. Just in case. He reached in for his… Uh-oh. There wasn't any duct tape.

"Guys, I forgot to get duct tape from the museum. You'll have to hold them, I guess." Gregor hoped that it wouldn't interfere with Luxa and Howard's sword fighting abilities. They wouldn't be able to use two handed attacks very well. If either of them were hurt because of him he'd never forgive himself. Especially if it was Luxa...

"Do not worry, Gregor. I brought an extra roll of this 'tape' material in case we needed it. I did not expect you to forget, but it is no matter. I will attach the flashlights." Howard stated and walked over to Luxa to secure her light to her forearm.

"That's a relief… Good thinking, Howard." The young doctor nodded and continued wrapping tape around Luxa's arm. Gregor passed out some bread and cheese and sat by Luxa.

"You worried?" He asked.

Luxa laughed, careful to keep her volume in check. "Of course I am worried, Gregor. There are rats marching on my home and we are about to charge into a room full of them. Are you not worried?" Gregor laughed too and agreed that it was a stupid question. Howard silenced them and returned to readying his medical supplies.

When they were all prepared, the group turned to Ripred. The rat had been deliberating on a course of action while the rest of them had eaten and otherwise gotten ready.

"Here's how it will go," Ripred whispered, "I want Lapblood to go in first and pretend that she has her little message for Rupture. After she has been granted audience, we will move in and start the fight. Not what I'd call a perfect strategy, but they will be thrown off when Lapblood starts killing their soldiers and we'll get the element of surprise. Ready?"

For the first time in a while, Temp spoke up. "What do you want me, to do, want me?"

"I'm sorry, Temp, but there's not much you really _can_ do in combat. No offense intended, of course. I'm sure you'll help us out afterwards." Ripred responded with a sigh. Temp's antennae drooped but he agreed solemnly.

Lapblood left the party to fulfill her role. Everyone listened anxiously as she walked into the throne room and chatted with some guards. The footsteps resumed and became softer as she proceeded towards the center of the enormous cavern that held the gnawer throne.

"Let's go." Ripred growled.

They walked swiftly and silently; the bats prepared to take off once they reached the open chamber. They soon reached the entrance of the chamber again and Gregor mounted Artemis. Luxa took her place upon her bond and Howard jumped onto the back of Nike.

Gregor didn't feel very comfortable on Artemis' back. It wasn't that he didn't trust the bat or thought she was a bad flier; he just didn't know her fighting style like he knew Ares'. It was only complicated by the fact that she was large and reminded him of his deceased bond while Gregor was still trying to get over his old bond's death.

Finally, he heard the order. Ripred uttered the solemn, awaited words that signaled the event that Gregor had been waiting for since his arrival.

"Go."

Underneath him, Artemis surged forward. He heard the clatter of Ripred's claws against the stone floor. The powerful beats of the three fliers' wings assailed his ears. Gregor grew deaf to it all as his rager senses boiled under his skin. They began taking over his body and all the unnecessary noise was muted as his vision shattered into fragments that highlighted upon his enemy's weak points.

Ripred was right; they had the element of surprise. Four rats were down before the rest even had time to react. Lapblood killed another two when they all looked toward to source of the commotion before leaping out of the range of nearby foes.

Behind the wall of guards and soldiers that had by now all turned to face the intruders, Rupture stood with a look of fury upon his face. There was something else there, too… was it fear? Gregor didn't know, nor did he care; he just hacked at every rat that came within his range. The battle raged and the rats leapt mercilessly at Gregor every time he descended to make an offensive move. After killing a few rats one of them snagged his leg with a claw and opened up a long, but not too deep gash. He applied pressure to it while he was in the air to try and halt the bleeding.

Artemis was an agile and strong flier; she held her own even among the more experienced Nike and Aurora. Artemis dove down and Gregor stabbed a rat in the life-giving vein in his right foreleg. Unexpectedly, another rat jumped at him and knocked Gregor from Artemis, stunning him as his dead slammed against the ground. He heard Luxa scream his name and, through flickering vision, Artemis wheel around.

Gregor looked up, struggling to maintain his rager sensation as fear grew in him. Above Gregor, Rupture stood with a claw raised as if it were the honed ax of an executioner.

"This is it… I'm going to die…" Gregor thought through a haze of pain and confusion. The long cut he had received on his leg bled freely and his head was pounding so forcefully that it was difficult to concentrate. He would never go back home to see Boots and Lizzie. He wouldn't see his mom or dad ever again…

As the claw came downward, something unexpected happened. Lapblood dove in front of Gregor and received the full, brutal force of the blow. The claw split her stomach open and she fell in a pile of bleeding flesh beside him. Gregor gasped in horror and used Lapblood's sacrifice as a rallying point for his anger; his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword and he drove it upward into Rupture's exposed neck.

The rat tried to speak, but the only sound that came out of his punctured throat was a gargling sound as the blood filled his windpipe. Rupture collapsed beside Gregor, next to Lapblood's body. Gregor pushed himself up, trying not to fall down as his injured leg threatened not to support his weight. He limped over to Lapblood. She was breathing in quick, ragged gasps. Her eyes found him and her breathing slowed.

"My debt to you is…fulfilled… Gregor the Overlander… tell Ripred that if he doesn't watch out for my pups, I _will_ kill him… run like the river, Warrior…" Her final words spoken, Lapblood became still and her breathing stopped.

"No! Lapblood!" Gregor cried. He was on the verge of tears now, only vaguely aware that all the rats had died and that Luxa and Ripred were both beside him, staring at the corpse.

'That's a pity. She was a good rat… a good fighter… a good friend." Ripred sighed. He actually seemed genuinely sad that Lapblood had died. Since when had the sarcastic gnawer ever called anyone his friend, after all? Luxa bent down and hugged Gregor; a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Howard hurried over to the three of them and demanded to take care of their wounds, hesitating as he noticed Lapblood's ravaged form laying on the ground. He stitched up Gregor's leg and stopped some bleeding on his head. Luxa had to have stitches on a gash on her arm but most of her injuries were minor. Ripred insisted on taking care of himself.

All three bats had tears in their wings that had to be stitched up and Nike had acquired a pretty large cut on her torso. For the most part, though, everyone was in working order. Except, of course, for Lapblood…

"Well, Rupture is dead. I suppose we've completed the prophecy, at least. Be happy for that, pups. She did not lose her life in vain." Ripred said at last. Howard and Luxa nodded at him, but Gregor had a pretty bad feeling that didn't come from any of his wounds.

"I don't know, guys. I mean, it seems like we just kind of skipped past part of the prophecy. There are no 'new allies' or anything yet that I've seen. And then there's, uh, what Nerissa told me." Gregor said, directing the last part quietly at Luxa.

"Yes… that does not make much sense. Perhaps it will become clear when we return to Regalia." Luxa offered. A booming, rough, and serpentine voice followed up her statement.

"No, young queenling. I can not allow you to return home. I... _we_ have waited far too long to take our revenge for my race's exile from the world above at the hand of you humans. Now, it is time for that vengeance. Cut off the exits."

A huge, lizard-like animal crawled out of the shadows of a nearby tunnel. Several like him glided down from unseen perches high in the expansive cavern and settled in front of any escape routes.

The lizard things all glared at them with intense hatred.

"Wait a minute… they aren't lizards. They have wings and horns and stuff. I'm definitely not an expert on these things, but are those _dragons?_" Gregor thought with bewilderment. It seemed to make sense. Dragons had wings and horns. The big one talked about an 'exile from the world above,' which probably meant that they had lived in the Overland until humans had pushed them out. He remembered some stories he'd heard about dragon slayers and stuff like that in medieval England. "I guess they really did exist. If there are giant dinosaur serpents down here, why not have a few dragons?"

All of them were shocked into silence by the appearance of the scaly monsters. The dragons were each covered in scales of a dark color. Unlike the fliers, they only had a single color that covered their entire body, though it varied from dragon to dragon. The beasts were each about the size of the Bane, with what he guessed was their king or leader or something, being a few feet larger.

The huge one, whose body was adorned by deep crimson scales, spoke again. "We, younglings, are the burners. An apt name for what we once were, but since our banishment by _humans_ from the land above the trait of fire-breathing has become so scarce that hardly any of us retain the ability. Your race will be punished for our suffering, queenling. Do not forget this for the short time you will remain alive." The giant dragon turned his ancient head to the smaller burners who were blocking off the tunnels.

"Escort them to the prisons," rumbled the dragon, "If any of them try to escape, tear the queenling." Luxa's face paled.

Normally, Gregor would have tried to escape if he'd thought he had a chance. However, he didn't. First, they'd kill Luxa if he did. Second, there were six dragons in total, and only a couple good guys who were in any shape to be fighting. The burners escorted them down an abandoned hallway and stopped beside a sturdy stone door.

"You will enter," rumbled one of the creatures. The group filed inside and the door slammed shut behind them. Silence ruled for a minute.

"How did that door get here? Rats couldn't have made it." Gregor said out loud.

"We humans built it for the rats to detain the more violent gnawers during our short period of peace. It seems that plan has backfired on us." Luxa sighed. She placed her face in her hands and didn't say anything else. Gregor sat by her and tried to comfort her but didn't make much progress.

"These 'burners' seem pretty tough, and they probably are, but they can't be very strong in terms of numbers. If there were enough of them to attack the humans without entering an alliance with the rats, I think that they would have done so. We haven't seem them, either, so they must be holed up in the Uncharted Lands somewhere..." Ripred was saying as he paced back and forth across the cell. He didn't seem to be talking to anyone, really. Just thinking out loud. Gregor was glad to hear that there probably weren't five thousand of those things waiting outside, though.

Through his echolocation Gregor saw a medium sized cell with straw-like bedding strewn across the floor. The room was bare other than the meager covering on the ground. Gregor turned on the lighter to examine his surroundings in more detail, but found nothing new other than a few faces surprised by the sudden light.

Suddenly, Luxa raised her head and spoke.

"_Herald of a long-lost time_

_Dark Bane's conquest seeks to mime._

_Signified by death and rage,_

_Yet cunning, wise and ancient of age"_

Aurora gasped and Howard looked surprised. Gregor slowly came to the realization himself.

"Hold on, you guys are saying that the prophecy never even told us to kill Rupture? It meant that we were supposed to kill the dragon king? That big guy who was back there?" Gregor asked in frustration.

"That may be, Gregor," Ripred said, eyes sharpening. "It must be that we are intended to kill the king of the burners. As to whether it was the large one back there… perhaps; that may have been a general or such. I think that there's a good chance that was him, though. I think that he may have been controlling Rupture; giving orders himself and having a rat carry them out in order to gain the gnawers' trust."

"For though one may seem to lead, often is the master a pawn in a much larger game…" Gregor said quietly.  
Luxa raised her eyes and smiled at Gregor.

"Nerissa was correct… now we must only decipher her other words."

"What are these words you speak of? Did Nerissa say something we do not know of?" Howard asked in an annoyed tone. Gregor and Luxa looked at each other and Luxa nodded. So, Gregor explained what had happened during his encounter with Nerissa. Everyone listened intently, with the exception of Ripred. He looked bored to tears.

"Perhaps if we can decipher Nerissa's meaning in her second statement, we can find a way out of this cell. Let us get to work on it immediately." Luxa announced. The party gathered around the center of the desolate cell and worked to find salvation in the Nerissa's words.

There you go… Dragons. Rawr. Will they escape? Will they kill the dragon dude? Will I not take ten days to update this time? Find out in hopefully less than ten days! Oh, and review… Me likes the reviewz.


End file.
